Fire and Ice
by ChelsieLynn
Summary: Waverly Barton, aka Ice Hawk, is now a full fledged member of the Avengers. When two mysterious men from her past suddenly show up, everything Waverly has become familiar with is put into question. To add to the confusion, she can't help but feel like someone in New York is following her; someone she hasn't seen in quite some time. SEQUEL TO LOKI'S MATCH. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Here it is! Sequel to Loki's Match! I still can't believe how well received my first Avengers story was! =] Thank you so much to all who read it. I hope you will continue and read the sequel as well. I'm not going to say too much about it because I don't want to spoil it, but I can say, LOKI WILL RETURN... just not right away. School is started to get busy for me so updates will take some time and I'm sorry but I can't update as frequently as I did before. HOPEFULLY, I will be able to work on this on the weekends and post a new chapter then but we'll just have to see.**

**I hope you all enjoy the sequel and as always, please review!**

**I own nothing except Waverly, Tarra, and the plot idea for this story!**

Chapter One:

Ice Hawk sat crouched on the roof of an office building in downtown Manhattan. Next to her, bow armed and ready, was her brother, Hawkeye. The archer's eyes were focused with the unblinking concentration of a sharp shooter. Ice Hawk lacked the patience of her brother.

"This is pointless," she whispered beside him. Her voice was layered with frustration and annoyance.

Eyes not leaving his target, Hawkeye responded. "This is our job."

"No," Ice Hawk said irritably. She shifted so that she was kneeling on the edge of the building. Between her fingers she held throwing knives made of ice. She followed her brother's gaze and her brown eyes locked on their target. "This is a job for the police. Not the Avengers."

Below them, in the lobby of a bank, a masked man with a gun held the bankers and their patrons hostage while his partner waved around another gun, demanding money from the safe. Glancing back up around them, Ice Hawk located their fellow team members. On the building across from them stood Black Widow and Captain America. In an alley way behind the bank, the Hulk stood with Iron Man.

"Fury called us in," Clint said. "Maybe the police couldn't handle this."

Ice Hawk sighed. Despite the fact that it was midsummer and at least 80 degrees in the city, her breath crystallized before her face. Hawkeye shivered beside her. "Do you even see the police here? No." Ice Hawk stood up, tired of waiting for the precise moment to strike. "This is just an average guy with an ego problem and a gun. The police are more than capable of dealing with this. We should be dealing with super villains. Or finding the Tesseract."

"Fury dropped that project. The Tesseract was destroyed when Loki stabbed it."

Ice Hawk dropped the ice knives she was holding and they shattered at her feet. Her heart skipped a beat as it always did when she heard the god of mischief's name. "I'm not so sure," she said, her voice flat.

It had been months since Loki's death. She told herself that she was done mourning. She told herself she was ready to move forward. But she wasn't. Ice Hawk still felt an emptiness inside her. The newest Avenger gritted her teeth and pushed Loki to the back of her mind for the time being.

"Anyways." Ice Hawk flicked her hands as one would do when shaking off excess water. The motion resulted in new blades of ice forming between the girl's fingers. "I'm sick of this sitting around and waiting."

"Fury gave us our orders." Hawkeye said. He finally tore his eyes away from his target and looked up at his sister. He knew she was about do something against their mission's protocol. If Hawkeye had a dollar for every time his sister had been summoned into the director's office because of some type of insubordination… well, he'd have a lot of dollars.

"You know I don't agree with the director." With that, Ice Hawk jumped off the lip of the building. Using jets of water from her feet that blasted through the pores in her specially designed boots, Ice Hawk used window ledges and other aspects of the building's architecture to slow her descent until she landed safely in front of the bank.

From her ear piece, she heard her brother sigh. Then she heard, "Hey, Ice Princess, what the hell are you doing?"

"I got tired of waiting, Stark." Ice Hawk took a step towards the bank's front doors and threw her knives at the glass. The glass shattered the second her ice hit its surface. "Bullet proof. Yeah, right," she scoffed.

Upon hearing the sound of shattering glass, the two masked bank robbers wheeled around, their eyes and guns locked on Ice Hawk. Before either of the men could take aim and fire, Ice Hawk shot a jet of water from each palm. The force of the streams of water knocked both men backwards. Ice Hawk then closed her fists and the water froze around the barrels of the criminals' guns, rendering them useless.

Bank robber number one stood, his useless gun frozen to his right hand. "Wrong move, missy."

Ice Hawk rolled her eyes. "Oh please." She jumped high into the air, propelled by another blast of water from the soles of her feet. She flipped in the air and landed on the robber's shoulders. With her elbow, she hit him square on the top of the head and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Bank robber number two took that moment to run for the shattered remains of the door. Flinging her arm out to the side, Ice Hawk conjured up a sheet of ice under the man's feet. He slipped and wheeled his arms around in the air, but finally lost his balance and fell to the ground. Ice Hawk calmly walked over to him. She knelt down beside him and froze his hands and feet to the ground, securing him in place.

Ice Hawk stood and walked down the street as if this was a normal everyday bank transaction. Into her communicator, she addressed her teammates. "I think the cops can handle it from here. I'm going to get a drink. See ya back at base."

Before she could hear her brother's argument or the rest of the team's objections, Ice Hawk ripped her communicator from her ear and stuffed it into one of the pockets of her blue jumpsuit. She didn't bother changing from her combat suit before she entered the bar that she often frequented. It was only a few blocks away from the crime scene and she didn't feel like going all the way back to Avengers Tower to changes. Plus, it wasn't like the world didn't know who she was. Everyone knew who all of the Avengers were. It was stupid they had to go by codenames when on a mission. Everyone in America knew billionaire and genius Tony Stark was Iron Man. Everyone knew Dr. Banner transformed into the Hulk. It was pointless for Steve Rodgers to wear a mask anymore; his face was the face everyone associated with Captain America. And then, there was Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, and Ice Hawk herself; Waverly. Why the three of them had codenames, Waverly didn't even know. They ran around in jumpsuits, they didn't even have masks. Their faces were plastered on news screens all the time. Codenames were a waste of time, in Waverly's opinion.

Waverly pushed open the thick, wooden door of the bar and entered the dimly lit room. Since it was so early in the day, the bar was mostly empty; only a few regulars here and there drinking slowly from large glass mugs and exchanging stories. They nodded at Waverly when they say here. Waverly had been in this bar at least once a week ever since she turned 21 which was just two weeks after Loki had saved them all on The Other's home planet. Waverly was still in a depression at the time, so she thought she'd try and drown her sorrows in alcohol. The night of her birthday, she was so drunk, Clint had to carry her home. She sobbed the entire time mumbling about Loki, Odin, Project X and a million other depressing things that Clint lost count. Since then, Waverly was careful to only drink what she could handle. Clint had let her drink with him before the magical age of twenty one, but on the night that she turned legal, Waverly threw caution to the wind and downed everything the bar tender offered. After a severe hangover the next day, Waverly decided no more.

But she liked the bar. It was a small, owned by a woman in her late twenties. The bar had a jukebox that played the "golden oldies" and most of the bar-goers were men and women in the forties and fifties, going out for a drink while reminiscing about old times. It was quiet and the owner was kind. It was quite the opposite of the normal bar scene in New York. Waverly had tried that once with Tony, Steve, and Pepper. It was clear the naïve super soldier and young Waverly didn't enjoy the pounding music, thrashing around that was supposedly dancing, and the drunken partiers yelling in everyone's ears. The typical bar scene was for sure out of the question in Waverly's opinion once a drunken frat boy grabbed her by the arm and mumbled something about going back to his place for some fun. She flipped him over her shoulder and turned his beer so cold, the bottle froze to his hand.

Waverly took her usual seat at the counter and the bar owner leaned across from her, cleaning a shot glass with an old rag. "Usual?" She asked.

Waverly nodded. "Thanks Tarra."

A few seconds later, a glass of rum and coke slid across the counter and rested in front of Waverly. The girl downed the glass, letting the warmth of the rum spread across her. She set the glass down and then filled it herself with ice and cool water from her hands.

"I see you've been working," Tarra said. Her back was to Waverly while she was straightening some bottles on a shelf behind the bar, but Waverly could feel Tarra looking at her out of the side of her eye. Waverly and Tarra had become close friends ever since Waverly started coming to the bar; but Waverly never told her new friend where her powers originated from. It was still painful to think about. The lies, the kidnapping, the torture she was put through.

"Yup," Waverly answered, completely ignoring her friend's desperate and not so subtle plea for more information.

Tarra turned back around. "Getting back into your old routine then?" Another reason the girls were so close was that they felt each other's pain. Sure, Tarra didn't know that Waverly had been romantically involved with the god of mischief from the not so mythical realm of Asgard, but Tarra knew Waverly experienced the loss of a lover. Tarra had been brought to the bar scene in the same way. Her fiancé was a solider. He had been killed in combat in the Middle East. After spending many drunken nights sobbing alone in the corner of the bar, the former owner pulled Tarra out of her hole and offered her the bar, so long as she stayed relatively sober. That's what Waverly liked about Tarra. Even in the midst of such pain, Tarra's strength was still her most obvious feature. Tarra reminded Waverly that she too was strong and that she would be all right in the end.

Still, Waverly missed Loki so badly that it hurt.

Waverly set her glass back on the counter and nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

"That's good."

Waverly nodded once more but said nothing else. She was trying, she really was. But she just couldn't let go. Loki had stirred something inside of her that she wanted desperately to hold on to. With the god of mischief gone, however, that feeling turned into a gnawing, unresolved knot in Waverly's stomach. There was just something about the whole situation that didn't sit right with Waverly. She dreamed about Loki almost every night. The dreams were so real and felt so vivid. In addition to the dreams were the nightmares. In her sleep, Waverly watched Loki die over and over again. But, the more she watched, the more it didn't make sense. When Loki stabbed the Tesseract, the energy released burned The Other to a pile of ashes. Loki simply disappeared. Shouldn't he have been fried too? It didn't make sense. Plus, Loki was the god of mischief. He would have had a way out. He wouldn't have been killed so easily.

Waverly had brought her suspicions to her brother. Clint, as understanding and comforting as a master assassin can be, told Waverly she was just imagining it; holding on to a hope that wasn't there. After angrily dousing him with cold water, Waverly told him she wasn't so sure that he was right.

If anyone would believe her theories, it would be Thor. Waverly desperately wanted to talk to the god of thunder. But, ever since Fury scrapped the Tesseract project, Thor had been on Asgard, resuming his kingly duties.

Waverly was pulled out of her thoughts by Tarra's voice. "Are you listening, Waverly?"

Waverly looked up. Tarra was standing across from her, hands on her hips looking miffed. "Sorry," the younger woman mumbled. "What were you saying?"

"I said," Tarra said angrily, though her expression had softened, "Two guys were in here last night asking about you."

Waverly's eyebrows disappeared into the angled bangs that framed her face. "Two guys?"

Tarra nodded. "I think they're brothers. They look a lot alike. Anyways, they came in here and asked if I knew where the ice girl was."

Waverly's stomach twisted uncomfortably. Everyone knew she was Ice Hawk, but still, unless she was in uniform, which honestly wasn't often, people would refer to her by her given name. "What did they want?"

Tarra shrugged. "They didn't say."

"What did you tell them?"

"I said that you were probably busy. They should come look for you another night." Tarra leaned against the bar counter and lowered her voice. "They weren't bad looking Waverly. They're obviously interested in you. It might be good for you to go out with one of them."

Waverly looked skeptically at her friend. "Maybe." Waverly pushed her now empty glass back towards Tarra. "If they come back and I'm not here, text me." With that, Waverly left, giving a friendly good bye to the other customers.

On her walk back towards the tower, Waverly couldn't help but feeling uncomfortable. Something about the two men who had asked about her just didn't sit right with her. Since she had gone public as the newest member of the Avengers, she had gotten quite a large fan base, mostly consisting of young men. But, after the frat boy incident and several other similar occasions, most boys were too intimidated to even look at Waverly when she was out in public; especially if Clint was around. Why would two guys all of a sudden be looking for her? It felt weird.

Plus, Waverly was weirded out by the fact of getting together with some other guy. She still felt so close to Loki; like he was just out of her reach. Dating some other guy after she had become so close with the god of mischief just didn't sit well with her.

To make matters all the more uncomfortable, Waverly couldn't help but feel like she was being watched. She felt the nervous prickle of a pair of eyes locked on her back, but whenever she turned around, there was no one beside the average city goer. Waverly was more than capable of defending herself if someone was following her for whatever reason, but still, she couldn't help but think the feeling was being watched was somehow related to what Tarra had told her about the two men looking for her.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Wow... no idea you'd all be so excited about this all ready, haha. It makes me happy! Thanks to those who have reviewed, favortied, followed. It's awesome. I didn't think I'd have an update so soon, but here it is. I have midterms coming up so don't expect anything for awhile, sorry! Loki will be coming up again soon. Just a note, bold in this chapter indicates text messages. I think that's it. I hope you enjoy!**

**I own nothing but Waverly, Tarra, Tyson, and Remmy.**

Chapter Two:

Waverly stepped out of her shower and dried herself off with a flick of her wrists. She put on her pink bathrobe and exited the bathroom. As she crossed her bedroom to her closet, she heard a knock on her door.

"Fury wants to see you." It was Clint. His voice was flat. He must have said this a thousand times since Waverly had become an Avenger.

"Well, he can wait," Waverly snapped. She hopped on one foot, pulling on a pair of jeans. "I'm not dressed."

"Wave." Clint sighed and Waverly heard a 'thunk' indicating her brother was leaning against her door. "You know Fury has no patience with you. You can't keep going against his orders."

Waverly rolled her eyes. She slipped on a light blue button down shirt and buttoned it as she walked to her door. She opened it and Clint tumbled into the room, doing a sort of somersault and righting himself. "Show off." Waverly said, punching her brother in the arm.

"Oh, and that thing earlier where you did the flip and landed on the robber's shoulders, that wasn't showing off?"

The corners of Waverly's lips tilted in a smile. "Maybe a little. What does Fury want?"

"The usual." Clint covered an eye with his hand. In a deep voice, he mimicked the director. "Discipline. She has no discipline. You were never like this! Well, except for the incident with Natasha, but I've looked past that. Insubordination! That's what it is." Clint lowered his hand and smiled, proud with his Fury imitation.

Waverly shook her head. "Tony still does it better."

Now it was Clint who punched Waverly playfully in the shoulder. "Are you sure you don't have a thing for Tony? You always pick his side."

Waverly pulled a face. "Stark?! God, no. Besides, Pepper is my friend. I wouldn't steal her… well I'd say man but Tony has the maturity of a twelve year old."

The archer rolled his eyes and heaved an exaggerated sigh. "You are so not one to talk. Go see Fury before he sends Bruce in here to forcibly bring you to his office."

"Pfft. I could take Bruce."

"Could you take the Hulk?"

Waverly thought for a moment. "Point taken."

* * *

Fury's office wasn't on the top floor, Tony had seen to that. If anyone was going to have roof access, it was going to be Iron Man. So, Waverly climbed up to the floor just before the top level. The long, dark, narrow hallways led to Fury's office, Hill's office, what was formerly Waverly's office, and several other rooms that only Fury had access to. Waverly took the familiar path to the director's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Fury's tone was one of restrained calm.

Waverly entered the cavernous room. Fury had spent a great deal of SHILED's budget outfitting his office with state-of-the-art technical toys. The poor man thought he had finally built up a computer database that Tony couldn't hack into. He was hilariously mistaken. So, Waverly had to wind her way through the room to Fury's desk. She stepped carefully over thick computer cables and finally made it to the leather chair in front of Fury's desk. The director was leaning back in his own chair, hands clasped together with a finger to his lips. His one eye was narrowed. He radiated fury. _Ha,_ Waverly thought, _Fury is furious._

"I'm not happy with you, Agent Barton." Fury said in a low voice.

"Are you ever?"

Fury's look got even colder, if that was possible. Waverly knew she was pushing it so she sat up a litter straighter and mumbled, "Sorry, sir."

Fury sighed and ran a hand over his shaved dome. "I give orders for a reason, Barton. They are not suggestions. They are orders. I expect them to be followed."

Waverly opened her mouth to argue. Fury held up his hand and continued. "I don't want to hear your excuses, Waverly. You are on thin ice here." Fury caught himself. "Absolutely no pun intended. The council isn't pleased with you. Disobeying direct orders and then going to a _bar _in uniform?"

Waverly sighed through gritted teeth. Since when did the director care what the council thought? Didn't he directly ignore orders from them back when the Avengers were just getting started? And this whole 'in uniform' thing. Their identities weren't some secret. "Sir," Waverly struggled to keep the resentment from her voice, "With all due respect, I don't think you are one to tell me to listen to what the council has to say. Also, everyone knows I'm Ice Hawk. I don't wear a mask like Steve or Tony. And even though they have masks, everyone knows who they are. Why do I have to pretend I'm not an Avenger?"

Now Fury was the one sighing. "When civilians see you in the uniform, they think there is a situation. Aliens, evil villains, Loki."

Waverly shot Fury a dirty look.

The director heaved another sigh filled with irritation. "You know what I mean. Seeing uniformed Avengers can cause a panic."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Waverly interrupted. "I was in a bar where everyone knows me. I had a drink. How is that causing a panic?" At that moment, Waverly felt her cell phone vibrate against her leg in the pocket of her jeans. Fury was replying to her question, but she wasn't listening. Waverly slipped the smart phone from her pocket and slid her thumb across the screen, revealing a new text message.

**From Tarra: Hey Wave. Those guys r here. R u coming down?**

Waverly's stomach twisted. She wasn't quite sure why she felt unsettled.

"Are you on your phone?"

"Look, director," Waverly said, rising from her chair. She slid her phone back into her pocket. "I get it. I'm sorry. I won't walk around in uniform any more. I have to go. There's something I need to take care of." Not waiting for Fury to dismiss her, Waverly left the director's office. As she shut the door, she knew this wasn't the end of Fury's rage. She could get an earful later. In all honesty, Waverly knew she shouldn't push Fury's buttons so much, but she was just so resentful. Fury had treated her like an experiment. He had lied to her and kept what she was a secret. Waverly was not about to forgive him for that. Waverly also knew that the only reason she could have such an attitude with the director and not get kicked off the team was the fact that, try as she might, Waverly could never manage to piss Fury off quite as successfully as Tony could. If Stark could stay on the team, then Waverly was golden.

Once she was back at the elevator that would take her to her floor, Waverly pulled her phone out again. She typed a quick message back to Tarra. **Make sure they stay there. I have a weird feeling about this. I want 2 know who these dudes are.**

The elevator dinged on the floor Waverly shared with her brother and Natasha. She padded barefoot down to her door, having slipped her tennis shoes off in the elevator. In her room, she quickly changed into her specially made boots with pores in the soles. She wasn't sure if these mysterious men were trouble, but still, she wanted to be prepared.

* * *

It was a Friday night. The streets of New York were full of people letting down their hair after the stress of the work week. Waverly walked a block away from Avengers Tower before catching a cab that took her to her Tarra's bar. She paid the driver and made her way inside.

At first, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. The bar was full of regulars and a few older couples Waverly hadn't seen before, but that was typical for a Friday night. The juke box was playing The Beetles and Tarra's waitresses were serving fried food and cold beer. The normality ended when Waverly saw the counter. Sitting across from where Tarra was standing, filling shot glasses, were two young men. They had to be no older than Waverly. This was not a young person's bar. Waverly and Tarra were the only people under the age of forty that were ever present.

Tarra caught Waverly's eye and signaled her over. The two men kept their backs to Waverly. As Waverly walked to the counter, she couldn't help but tense up. She took a seat at the end of the counter, next to one of the strange men.

"Waverly," Tarra said, smiling at her friend. "Good to see you here. These guys were asking about you." Tarra gestured to Waverly's right.

Waverly finally looked at the men. Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. She knew them. Well, she used to. The men were twins, only a year older than Waverly. One was tall and stocky, the other was a little shorter and slim. Other than that, they were identical. They both had shaggy brown hair and piercing hazel eyes. They both smiled at Waverly.

"Waverly, wow it's been too long," one said.

The other nodded. "We walked by here the other night and thought that was you, so we asked the bartender." He turned to his twin. "Told you it was her."

Tarra looked at Waverly with confusion. Waverly wished she could explain but she was having trouble staying conscious at the moment. The twins, she struggled to remember their names, they had been boys at the orphanage. They were taken by the Project X scientists at the same time Waverly was kidnapped. She had repressed the memory of her first friends because of the pain associated with them. She remembered the night the three of them were taken. They were injected in the back of a van that was taking them to the lab. The one twin, the shorter one, he had had an allergic reaction to his serum. It wasn't pretty. The scientists had to restrain the taller twin when they injected him. And then it was Waverly's turn.

Waverly's heart was racing. She clutched the edge of the bar to keep from falling off her barstool. Tarra leaned towards her. "Are you okay?" She asked in a hushed voice.

"I need some air." Waverly stood up and walked out of the bar. The twins had been talking to her but she wasn't listening. Blood pounded in her ears. She felt like she had to throw up. The second she was back out on the street, she sent a text to her brother, telling him to come pick her up. Waverly sat on the cool concrete, leaning against the brick wall of the bar, waiting for Clint.

She wasn't going to be off the hook so easy. The twins followed her out and sat on either side of her. Waverly shut her eyes and dropped her head onto her knees. "I don't know how you found me but I tried to forget all that stuff. Please, just leave me alone."

The taller twin put a hand on Waverly's shoulder. His touch was warm. Waverly didn't like it.

"Listen, Waverly, I know how you feel. It was hard."

Waverly's head shot back up. "Hard?! Ha! I repressed all those memories. I forced myself to forget it ever happened. I don't even remember your names. I know you're the boys from the orphanage, the ones who were kidnapped with me. I want to forget all that."

The shorter twin now placed his hand on Waverly's other shoulder. She flinched under his touch. It was weird, like his hand was there but at the same time it wasn't. "Forget, huh?" He said. "Is that why you walk around blasting bad guys with ice? Come on. You were injected with ice serum."

Waverly sighed and shrugged both boys' hands off her. "It's complicated, all right. After all that Project X shit, a lot has happened."

"A lot has happened to us too."

"Look," Waverly said. She was fighting to keep herself calm. In her mind, she was having flashbacks of her kidnapping and Project X. She was seeing what Fury had done to her. She knew that if her mind kept on like this, she would start having flashbacks of when she murdered Odin and when Loki died. Waverly took a breath. "Look, tall dude."

"Tyson."

"What?" Waverly snapped.

"You said you forgot our names. I'm Tyson and he's Remmy."

Waverly shut her eyes and leaned her head against the bricks behind her. She remembered now. At the orphanage it had always been Waverly, Tyson, and Remmy. The three of them were inseparable. They were best friends. Waverly snapped her eyes back open. "Okay, listen, I don't know what you two want – "

Remmy interrupted. "What we want? Waverly, we're friends. We're practically family. We thought… we thought they killed you."

Looking sideways at Remmy, Waverly saw the pain in his eyes. They had been like family. Waverly remembered. When the bigger kids at the orphanage had picked on her, Tyson and Remmy, though they were only five, had always stuck up for her. If she hadn't repressed the memories of the orphanage and Project X, Waverly probably would have missed them. She probably would have been as sad as Remmy looked. She probably would have wanted to find them too.

Now Tyson was talking. "We know that all this is hard. We pretended it didn't happen, too." Waverly turned to face him. "But we're all each other has. We saw you on the news, with the Avengers. You don't know how happy we were when we found out you were alive."

Remmy continued. "We just had to find you. You're like a sister to us."

Waverly sighed. "You want it to be the three of us again?"

Remmy nodded and Tyson said, "Yes."

"Well what are your powers?"

Tyson and Remmy exchanged a glance. "Ours never worked." Remmy said. "We thought it was because I was allergic to it but Tyson doesn't have any powers either." Tyson shook his head.

"So what is it you want?"

"We want to be a family again," Tyson replied. "We missed you."

At that moment, Clint pulled up. He honked the horn and Waverly saw him look curiously out the passenger window at the two men.

Waverly stood up. "I know you guys mean well," she said, "But those memories are so painful. I… jeeze… I don't know. I have a new family now." She gestured towards Clint.

"Will you think about it?" Remmy asked.

"We miss our little sis," Tyson added, flicking Waverly's ear with his finger.

Despite all the pain and confusion she was feeling, Waverly smiled. Tyson and Remmy had always teased her by flicking her ears when they were younger. "All right," she sighed. She pulled her phone out. "Give me your number. I'll think about it and then we can talk." She typed their numbers into her phone and bid them good night.

Once she was in the car, Clint began firing off questions like he fired off arrows. "Who in the hell were they? What did they want? Did they bother you? I can go back and kick their asses if you want."

Waverly groaned and plopped her head against the window. "Clint, they're from the orphanage."

* * *

Tyson and Remmy stood, watching the car with Waverly inside disappear down the New York streets.

"Do you think she bought it?" Remmy asked.

Tyson scoffed. "Yeah. She always was naïve."

Remmy rolled his eyes. "How would you know that? We were five when we met her. We didn't even know what naïve meant."

Tyson punched his brother in the arm. "You know what I mean smart ass."

Remmy rubbed his arm. Where his brother's fist had made contact was as small singed hole in his shirt. "Will you watch it?"

"Sorry," Tyson mumbled. "How long do you think before she calls us?"

"I don't know. Why couldn't we just, ya know, kidnap her?"

Tyson rolled his eyes again. "You saw how she can fight. She needs to come quietly. She believed all that family bull shit. We'll get her." Tyson turned on his heel and walked back to their car.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I know it's short but I figured it was better than nothing. I have three more midterms next week. HOPEFULLY, I'll be able to update again next weekend. Thank you to all who reviewed =] I hope you enjoy!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Three:

"The orphanage? What do you mean?" Clint asked. He shot a glance at Waverly while still managing to steer the car through the busy streets.

Waverly sighed and shut her eyes. She dropped her head against the headrest of the passenger seat of Clint's Camaro. "Yes, Clint. The orphanage. Where I came from. You remember that. The thing you kept a secret from me for fourteen years."

Clint sighed. "Someone's not gonna let that go, are they?"

Waverly shot Clint a glare that made the archer flinch. "All right," said Clint with exasperation, "I get it. So, from the orphanage?"

"Yes. Tyson and Remmy." Waverly turned her gaze back out the window. Skyscrapers flashed by and the lights of the city twinkled in the darkness. Heaving another sigh, Waverly continued. "I guess I just tried to forget about all of that. That's why I didn't remember. That's why I believed you were my real brother. They were a year older than me; twins. We were best friends. They were kidnapped by Project X too."

Clint nodded though Waverly wasn't looking at him. Stopping the car behind a row of traffic at a red light, the archer chanced a look at his sister. She was still turned away from him, her head cocked slightly to one side. He could see her reflection in the window. They were stopped across from an alley way between an abandoned apartment building and a Goodwill. Waverly's eyes were narrowed and she was concentrated on something in the alley. Before Clint could get a chance to find out what it was, the car behind him honked its horn, jerking Clint's attention back to the road. He pressed down on the gas and the car began moving forward.

"Stop the car!" Waverly yelled. She threw her arm out, across Clint's chest.

Instinctively, Clint slammed on the breaks. Conveniently, they were in the middle of the intersection. The car that had honked slammed into the back end of Clint's Camaro.

"Damn it! Waverly, what the hell?"

Clint didn't get his answer. The second the car had stopped, Waverly flung the passenger door open and jumped out into the street. She took off towards the alley while Clint stood getting an earful from the other driver.

Waverly padded to a stop at the alley's mouth. It was dark and cool between the two buildings and smelled something awful. Garbage littered the ground between overflowing dumpsters. A mangy, gray cat hissed at Waverly, annoyed with her presence. Waverly's brown eyes scanned the alley. The thing that had caught her attention was no longer there. Maybe it never was. She just had the strangest feeling that something in the alley was watching her at that light; and she was sure it wasn't the cat. Waverly shivered, despite the warm summer evening. This day just kept getting weirder. She was sure that earlier, when she felt like she was being watched, it had something to do with Tyson and Remmy. Whatever was in the alley, there was no way it could have been the guys. Something else was watching Waverly.

Just as she was getting ready to give up locating the mysterious entity, Clint had joined her at the alley. "What the hell was that?"

Waverly jumped and spun around to face her brother. "What? What was what? Did you see it?" Her brown eyes flashed back to the alley.

"See what?" The archer snapped. "You just caused an accident back there, you know. That dude behind us had a fit. Waverly what are you looking for?"

Waverly sighed and turned her back on the alley. "Nothing. Let's go home." She took back off toward the intersection where Clint had pulled the car off to the curb. The yellow hazard lights flashed like the alley cat's eyes. A glaring dent smiled at Waverly from the car's rear bumper. Waverly knew she'd get an earful later.

Once the siblings were back in the car, buckled up, and back in the flow of traffic, Clint rounded on his sister. "I am going to ask one more time. What in the hell happened back there?"

"Nothing."

Clint snorted. His sister never was a good liar. "Oh bull shit."

Waverly sighed through gritted teeth. It sounded more like a growl, a habit she had picked up from Loki. "I don't know, okay? Something… someone… I don't know. I feel like someone's following me or watching me or something."

Clint steered the car into the driveway of Avengers Tower. A SHIELD agent manning the gate gave the vehicle access to descend into the garage below the tower. It had taken a lot to convince Tony to remove some of his "toys" so that the rest of the team had room for their vehicles as well. Clint pulled into his space and turned to face his sister. "You think something's following you?"

Waverly nodded.

"When did this start?"

Waverly shrugged. "I've been noticing it on and off all summer. But lately, every time I go outside, I feel like someone's watching me. But there's never anything out of the ordinary. Then today, Tarra told me two guys were looking for me, so I thought it had something to do with that. But the guys were Tyson and Remmy. There's no way they could have been in that alley."

"Waverly," Clint struggled to keep his voice level. Part of him believed Waverly, the big brother. But, the other part of him, the sniper, told him there was nothing going on. "I didn't see anything in that alley."

Waverly shut her eyes. "This is where you're going to think I'm crazy. I didn't really _see_ anything. It was more like I felt it."

Clint massaged his forehead, rubbing the headache away before it could take hold. "Fury's been keeping tabs on you ever since the Loki thing, remember. If someone was following you, he'd know."

"Maybe he knows and he's not telling me." Waverly suggested.

Clint had to admit this was a reasonable claim. The archer kneaded his head harder. The headache was winning. "I really think you're just stressed out. You've been through a lot the past few months. Ask Fury for some time off."

Waverly opened her door and stepped out into the dimly lit garage. "I don't know, Clint. Something just feels weird." She shut her door, leaving her brother alone in the car and walked inside the tower.

Aboard the elevator, Waverly shut her eyes and thought back to what she had felt back by that alley. A corner of her mind nagged at her, teasing her with the answer, but she forced herself not to think about it. It was just wishful thinking. There was no way – The elevator "dinged" on her floor and Waverly snapped her eyes open. No. It was probably just some cat. Clint was right, she was just stressed out. She just needed to relax. Her mind was messing with her. Tomorrow morning, she'd ask Fury for a few days off. Opening her bedroom door, Waverly had to laugh. After the way she disrespected Fury earlier, there was no way he'd let her have time off.

Waverly was at least going to try. Clint could probably convince Fury to give her some days off. Waverly would just relax in her room and be lazy. That sounded nice. Bed sounded nice. Waverly quickly changed into pajamas and went to get into bed. She pulled her covers off the pillows and a single piece of paper tumbled down along with them. Eyebrows raised in confusion, Waverly picked up the paper.

**Lady Barton,**

**My mother and I are having a memorial dinner for my father and brother. I know that my mother still distrusts you, but in memory of Loki, I ask you to join us. I will be back on Midgard in a week of your Midgardian time. You can give me your answer then.**

** -Thor**

Much like Clint had done, Waverly massaged her forehead, fighting back a headache. She was honored that Thor wanted her present at the memorial dinner but going back to Asgard would bring back so many painful memories. Waverly placed the piece of paper on her nightstand and got into bed. It was depressing, really, how many of her memories were too painful to think about. Tyson and Remmy; Loki; Asgard in general. Waverly sighed. She dropped her head onto her pillows and shut her eyes. Maybe, if she got the time off, she would go to Asgard. Maybe.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I'm not too sure if I like this chapter... it's a little jumpy but I needed some filler stuff before the next big part... I hope you enjoy. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed... I know I haven't been updating this very often but it's so awesome that people keep finding my story and reading it! I'm not sure when I can update again. I had an idea for another Avengers story. Nothing serious, just a parody sort of thing that I'd update randomly just for fun. The idea is that during a battle, one of Loki's spells go haywire and turns himself and the Avengers (minus Fury) into little kids. Then Fury has to babysit the baby Avengers till the spell wears off... If you guys would be interested in reading something like that, let me know in a review and I might right that too!**

**I own nothing!**

Chapter Four:

He hungered for her. It still irritated him that a mortal could make him feel this way, but she was no ordinary mortal. Even before she became Ice Hawk, she was unlike all the others. Her tongue was sharp and her wits rivaled his own. How had she put it? She had wanted to make him squirm. She had done far more than that.

He wanted her. It had been so long since he had been with her. He had hoped that by now, he would have figured out a way for them to be together without the bars of a prison cell separating them. At first, he simply wanted to rule her realm; defeat those who would imprison him. But she would not like that. Asgard would be his second choice; but that was out of the question. He had since abandoned his quest for the realm he grew up in. If he truly loved anyone beside Waverly, it was his mother. He would not rule over her; he couldn't. That left Jotunheim. He could easily overtake his lesser skilled brethren. However, his race hated him almost as much as he despised them. Ruling over them would be a challenge; much more work that he would have liked. Four other realms were available to him; but Waverly was human. He wasn't sure if she could survive in some of the other realms.

Plan B would be to have the girl fake her death as well. They could venture off together; to another universe. The Tesseract had shown him numerous worlds beside the nine realms originally known. Surely they would find a suitable planet to rule over. This was the most appealing plan, though it too would never work. She loved her adoptive brother far too much to fake her death.

He was frustrated with himself. Ever since the day he staged his death, he had thought about her; every day and every night. It pained him to be away from her. His hunger for power and revenge died down to an annoying ache. Right now, he just wanted to be back with the girl who made him feel like he once was.

He needed a plan. He was not about to make his presence known, just to be locked up in a cell. He needed to reveal himself, but only to her. He needed to do something fast. She was getting suspicious. The longer he watched her, the riskier his situation became. He would need to do it soon; not just because she was on to him, but because he needed her.

* * *

"They call themselves Cinder and Ash. Everywhere they've been has been reduced to ashes." Director Fury gestured at the screen behind him. A newsreel was showing a terrible scene. Two men wearing flame resistant jumpsuits were atop a building in Chicago. They were masked but they didn't need to be. Flames obscured their entire body but they remained unharmed. Fire erupted from their hands and anything in their path was destroyed. Cinder seemed to be the leader of the two; the typical melodramatic villain, the one who addressed the crowd.

"What do they want?"

Fury looked away from the burning city to the person who had spoken. His team was assembled before him, at the wooden oval table, a mission folder before each of them. It was Natasha who had spoken. Fury shut off the screen and sat at the head of the table. "We don't know."

"They just attack and then leave?" Steve Rogers asked.

Fury nodded. His eye scanned the papers before him. "Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis. They just show up and torch the place. The military has been unable to touch them. They haven't given any demands, haven't taken any hostages."

"So destruction for destruction's sake?" Dr. Banner suggested.

Fury nodded.

Waverly shuffled through her debriefing packet. She looked at the pictures of Cinder and Ash. A shiver ran through her body. Fire. They were pyrokenetics. She had never fought anyone like that. How could she fight when fire melted ice?

"So what do you want us to do?" Clint said from her left side. Waverly slid the pictures back into the folder and looked up at her brother. The archer was looking at Fury. "Are we taking them out or neutralizing them?"

Fury sighed and steepled his fingers, placing them on his chin. The SHIELD director looked around the table. "The goal is to capture them. Something doesn't add up here. I want to figure out who these guys are, where they came from, and what they're doing."

"What's the plan, sir?" Agent Hill asked.

Fury turned to the left side of the table, where the Avengers sat in a line. "Tomorrow morning, you all will be deployed to Nashville. Our intelligence believes that is Cinder and Ash's next target."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Tony rose from his seat and strode confidently over to Fury's side; a glass of rum in his hand. "No can do, Patchy. I've got a date."

Waverly stood as well. "I'm supposed to have time off, sir. We discussed this. I'm going to Asgard with Thor."

The aforementioned god of thunder rose as well. "With all due respect, Director Fury, I must be present at the memorial feast for my father and brother."

Fury sighed and leaned back in his chair. With one hand, he swatted Tony away from him, with the other he massaged his temple. After a tense silence, he made up his mind. "All right. Steve, Natasha, and Clint will be deployed to Nashville. They will stakeout the city; set up a headquarters. Thor, I have no control over you, do as you wish. Waverly, you can go with Thor but I need to be able to reach you at a moment's notice. If we need you, you will need to be back here at once. Stark," Fury sighed. "You and Banner will stay here."

Tony patted Fury on the back. "Hey, thanks man. You wanna come with Pepper and me? I'm sure we could find you a girl."

Fury glared at Tony with his one eye. "No. You and Banner will be staying here so that you can analyze the news footage of these two. I want to know what we're up against."

Tony huffed like an angry teenager and slumped back to his seat. "Yeah, all right, _dad_."

Turning to the other side of the table, Fury addressed his SHIELD agents, assigning them duties as well. When he was finished, he dismissed the meeting and strode out of the room.

The second he was gone, Waverly turned to Clint. "I don't like this. I can't fight these guys."

"I must agree with the young one," Thor said. "This situation seems odd. There are pieces of this puzzle we are missing."

"Aren't there always?" Steve sighed.

Clint sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't like this either. Waverly, go with Thor to Asgard. We can handle these pyros on our own."

Waverly nodded.

The god of thunder placed a massive hand on Waverly's shoulder. "I will watch over your young sister, Clint."

Waverly rolled her eyes and shrugged Thor's hand off her shoulder. Though her voice was layered with sarcasm, she smiled. Thor was like an older brother to her; albeit an older brother who was an other worldly god. "I can take care of myself, Thor. It's just the fire thing I don't like. I can't fight against that."

"So you say," Thor chuckled, winking a blue eye.

Waverly laughed and dismissed herself from the group. She still had to prepare for her trip to Asgard. Waverly enjoyed Thor's company and even though he was the total opposite of his adoptive brother, he reminded her of Loki. The two Asgardian princes always spoke so properly. Going to the realm that had been her home for a short time was bittersweet. Waverly had half hoped that Fury would deny her request for time off. But he didn't. So now, she was preparing to leave with Thor. Maybe this trip would provide her with closure. She could move on.

* * *

Waverly was packed. She was standing on the roof with Thor. Clint, Steve, and Natasha were boarding one of SHIELD's jets. The Barton siblings bid each other farewell. Waverly stepped back, a gym bag slung over her shoulder stuffed full of a week's worth of clothing. Odin's and Loki's memorial dinner only lasted one evening, but due to, as Thor explained it, the toll teleportation caused on the mortal body, it would be unsafe for Waverly to take two tips via the Bifrost in one day. Therefore, the human girl would be staying on Asgard for a week. Waverly wasn't too thrilled with this. On Asgard, Waverly spent most of her time alone. Last time she was in the realm, it was Loki who had kept her company; well, she had kept him company. What had started out as pure hatred morphed into something neither of them could explain, but Waverly knew she loved the god of mischief. She knew a part of her always would.

Clint prepared the jet for takeoff. The massive hunk of high tech metal slowly raised into the sky, leaving the roof of Avengers Tower behind. Waverly waved before the jet accelerated in the air and took off for Nashville.

Thor's hand was on Waverly's shoulder once more. "Ready Lady Barton?"

Waverly nodded. She tightened her grip on her bag and squeezed her eyes shut. No matter how many times she traveled by Bifrost or how many times she had teleported with Loki, the trip still made her stomach churn. Thor called to Hemidall and with a gut wrenching jolt, the pair was thrust into the magical bridge.

Just as Waverly was wishing she hadn't had that fifth pancake at breakfast, she felt her feet hit solid ground. Thor's grip on her shoulder loosened. Waverly no longer felt weak kneed after traveling by Bifrost but she still swayed slightly until she adjusted. Thor had already taken off, greeting the bridge's guard.

Waverly trotted after the god, nodding to Hemidall as she passed. The guard bore into Waverly with his eerie golden eyes but the corner of his mouth twitched up ever so slightly as he inclined his head in greeting.

It hadn't dawned on Waverly during her last visit, but now she fully realized the beauty of Asgard. It was just the grand palaces, large buildings, and magnificent waterfalls; the air here smelled cleaner; more pure. Waverly breathed deeply and smiled. She felt rejuvenated here.

Waverly followed Thor into the palace. Though it had been nearly a year since the realm was overrun by Loki's brethren; the Frost Giants, the palace still showed scars from the battle. The main entry doors were still broken in a few places and craters from Thor's hammer could still be seen in corners of the halls. The god led Waverly to her old room via the usual path.

After seeing that Waverly was settled in, Thor grasped Waverly by the shoulders. "Lady Barton, I am very pleased that you agreed to come. I know this must still be painful."

Waverly nodded. "It is. I can't imagine what it's like for you." Emotions began bubbling in Waverly's stomach. She dropped her eyes but still felt Thor's blue eyed gaze on her. She shifted under his grip. "Thor, I'm so sorry. I don't know how you don't hate me. I killed him. I – "

Thor put a hand under Waverly's chin and tilted her face up so that she was looking at him once more. "Do not do this to yourself. I have forgiven you. It needed to be done."

"But – "

Thor held up his other hand. "My father's time had come. I would have done the same to save my brother.'

Waverly sniffed and blinked the tears out of her eyes. She nodded.

"The feast is tomorrow at sundown. I will have someone fetch you." The god kissed Waverly on the top of her head, as an older brother would do to a younger sister. The god then dismissed himself.

Waverly's room was nearly as she had left it. The outfits she had brought on her first trip were still hanging in the wardrobe. Waverly's small makeup bag was still on the marble counter in the washroom. It was as if she had never left. Waverly unpacked her bag and then flopped on her oversized bed. She heaved a sigh. She knew her visit on Asgard was going to be hard but she was glad she was here.

* * *

She wasn't sure how long she had been lying there, but at some point, Waverly fell asleep. That wasn't the odd part. The odd part was what had woken her up. She was just on the verge of naturally waking when a rush of adrenaline surged through her veins. Bolting up in bed, Waverly's eyes scanned the room. Her heart was racing. She was alone in the massive room but she had sworn she felt like she was being watched. She felt the same feeling she'd been experiencing all summer. Waverly had almost convinced herself that Clint was right and she was just overly stressed. But, now that she was here, on Asgard she thought that feeling would go away. Yet still, here it was. Waverly rolled out of bed and scanned the room once more. She was alone, but it didn't feel like it. She would swear on her life that someone had been in this room, watching her as she slept. She shivered and shook her head.

_I' m just worked up. I haven't unwound yet._ Waverly sighed. She needed to get out of her room. Without giving her mind time to object, she exited her room, her destination already in mind.

Even though she hadn't been on Asgard for almost a year, she still knew the path to Loki's bedroom. Waverly wasn't sure why she wanted to visit the god's bedroom but her feet walked the familiar path. The door was close but not locked. She let herself in. Loki's room had remained untouched for quite some time. It was just as Waverly remembered; green and dark, like the god himself. Hanging on the wall opposite her was the tapestry of the royal family. Thor was obviously the center of the image, but Loki's figure was what caught Waverly's eye, just as it did when she first stumbled upon it.

Waverly's finger gently traced the outline of Loki's face. Now that she knew the god, she could see the pain expressed in the portrait's eyes. Loki was the younger brother, the adopted son. He had felt like he lived in Thor's shadow his whole life. Loki was such a troubled person. Yet, he had given his life to save them all. Waverly tore her eyes away from the tapestry. She crossed Loki's bedroom and sat on the edge of the massive bed. The bedclothes were a deep forest green and made of expensive silk. Still tired from the trip, Waverly curled up on Loki's bed. It was comforting, laying there. It was as if she was wrapped in Loki's arms. Waverly smiled and drifted once more into sleep.

Time always confused her on Asgard. It wasn't the same as it was on Earth. If Waverly had to guess, it was probably what would have been one or two in the morning when she awoke on Loki's bed. She felt more rested than she had in weeks. She stretched, slid off the bed, and though she knew it didn't matter, she straightened up the blankets. It was while she was hunched over the bed that she felt it again. Waverly bolted upright and spun around.

She wasn't sure what made her do it, but she spoke into the darkness. "Look, I don't know what you are or what's going on but stop it."

The darkness responded with silence. Waverly's eyes darted back and forth, taking in the dark shapes of Loki's furniture. There was nothing there. "I'm freakin' losing it," Waverly mumbled to herself. "There's nothing here. I am NOT being followed." Though she spoke with conviction, she wasn't reassured.

Waverly left Loki's room and returned to her own. As she walked, the back of her neck prickled as if someone was watching her. Her pace quickened until eventually, she was jogging back to her room. Once she reached her door, she flung it open and shut it tightly behind her.

"I need to freaking get a grip." Waverly spoke to herself. Not feeling tired, she lit the fire place in her room. Once the light overtook the darkness, she opened her wardrobe. She didn't have anything nearly as elegant as the garments Asgardians wore. She would look terribly out of place at the memorial feast. It was better to comb through her options now and be prepared with a decent outfit than throw something together tomorrow evening, last minute.

Waverly's lips twisted into a thoughtful frown as she shifted through her clothes. She pulled out a pair of jet black dress pants. Sure, it wasn't a dress but it was one of the nicer articles of clothing she owned. Now, to find a top. Waverly began pulling out shirts and random. She tossed aside a bright pink blouse, a white, fleece sweater, and a sparkly tank top.

"Jeeze, I need new clothes," she muttered. She then pulled out an emerald green, long sleeved shirt. She had worn this during one of her first meetings with Loki. She slipped the top off the hanger and held it over her chest. She smiled to herself. This was Loki's memorial dinner. A green shirt, one reminiscent of the god's unique eye color was perfect to wear. Waverly had made up her mind. She slung the shirt over her arm and then picked up her dress pants. She was just about to shut her wardrobe when she heard it.

"You always did look quite fetching in green."


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I know it's short but you guys got me all excited to see you're reactions to this chapter so here it is! The ending of this chapter is a little sucky I think but I didn't know what else to do. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, ect. It's awesome! I hope you enjoy.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Five:

Waverly spun around so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash. She dropped her clothes at her feet. Her heart was beating so fast, Waverly thought it was going pop right out of her chest. That voice. There was no way. No way on all of Earth… strike that, no way on all of Asgard… But, when Waverly turned around, there he was; sitting on her bed.

He was wearing a dark suit with an emerald green tie. His hair was slicked back as per usual and his skin was pale as ever. His eyes were locked on Waverly and he was smiling his ever present mischievous grin.

Waverly shook her head and took a step backward. Her mouth was open but no sound came out.

"My dear, you seem surprised to see me."

Waverly backed up until she was leaning against the wardrobe. With one hand, she steadied herself against the wooden door; with the other she clutched her chest trying to get her heart rate under control. "No… oh my god, I've lost my mind." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"I can assure you, darling, you are quite sane."

Eyes wide, she looked up at the man sitting on the edge of her bed. "You're really here? Loki?" She stared at him, not daring to blink in case he disappeared.

"That I am." Loki nodded, the corners of his lips tilting up even more.

Waverly walked slowly towards him, shaking her head again. "Oh my god." He heart had calmed down, but Waverly felt her cheeks reddening. "You… you…" She couldn't believe it. He had _died._ He was supposed to be dead. He sacrificed himself to save them from The Other. She had seen it with her – _Oh my god, that bastard! He made an illusion of himself!_ She had cried over him, lost countless hours of sleep crying over his death. She had felt so empty, so alone. And it had all been for nothing. He had been alive this whole time! Waverly's hands balled up into fists. "You're supposed to be dead!"

Loki let out a dignified snort of laughter and rose from the bed. "Now, you don't sound too happy to see me. After all that crying you've done?"

Waverly wasn't quite sure what happened. She felt a rush of emotions; anger, happiness, frustration, and then the next thing she knew, Loki was laying on her bed, his hair a disheveled mess and a brilliantly red, swollen nose that was bleeding.

Loki pushed himself up on his elbows and looked at Waverly with shock written all over his face. "You punched me!"

Waverly was breathing heavily, the air crystalizing before her. The temperature in the room dropped a good ten degrees, as it always did when Waverly was emotional. She began pacing, gesturing wildly, and yelling all the while. "I thought you were dead! What in the hell did you do? I mean, honestly, where do you get off doing that to me. I thought you loved me! Oh my god! Really? Seriously? I mean I knew you were low but, Loki, how could you?" Waverly dropped onto the edge of her bed and folded her arms tightly across her chest.

Loki sat up and wiped the blood from his face. "My dear, I _am_ the god of mischief."

Waverly made a move to slap Loki across the face, but the god dodged the blow. He then grabbed Waverly's outstretched wrist and pulled her across the bed closer to him. Waverly tried to pull away but with not much effort. She allowed Loki to lean in close to her, placing his forehead against her own.

"Do not think it didn't pain me to deceive you," Loki whispered. "If I could have had my way, I wouldn't have done it. But, had I not faked my death, your brother and his allies would have imprisoned me after The Other's defeat. I am not going behind bars once more."

Waverly sighed and the anger washed out of her. She pulled her sleeve over her hand and held it up to Loki's nose. "I felt so alone."

"I am sorry," Loki continued. "I did this all for you. I had hoped that by faking my death I could find a way to both evade those who would have be imprisoned while still securing a life with you. I know I can't make you choose between myself and your brother. I am afraid even my superior intellect could not find a way to do so."

Waverly allowed a laugh to escape her lips. "You haven't changed."

Loki slipped a slender finger under Waverly's chin and titled her face up to his. He couldn't wait any longer. He pressed his lips against her, letting her familiar warmth wash over him once more. He felt her slip her hands around his neck, her fingers intertwining themselves in his hair. Loki pulled Waverly closer to him until there wasn't even an inch of space between them. Neither of them knew how long they stayed like that, but when they finally pulled apart, they were laying, wrapped in each other's arms, both out of breath.

"It was you, watching me, wasn't it?" Waverly finally asked. She snuggled closer to Loki's chest, listening to him breath. His nose had finally stopped bleeding, but dried blood caked both the god's face and Waverly's hand, though neither of them seemed to mind. It just felt so good, being in Loki's arms again. It was as if she couldn't get close enough to him.

Loki nodded. "Yes."

Waverly let out a chuckle. "I should have known. I knew this whole thing didn't make any sense. But, Clint told me I was being silly." The pair laid in silence for a while, until finally the fire burned itself out. It was then that Waverly spoke again. "Why? Why did you do all of this Loki?"

The god shifted underneath the weight of Waverly's head on his chest. He didn't answer right away; but, as usual, Waverly could worm anything out of him. That was one of the things that infuriated him and it was also one of the reasons he loved her. "As I said, I knew that your team would have imprisoned me after the battle. I am not going to be locked up like a common peasant. I am destined to be a king and you will be my queen. I needed to formulate a plan."

Waverly sighed. She rolled over so that she was looking up into Loki's face. "Loki," her voice was soft but there was a hint of annoyance behind her words, "when are you going to let that go?"

Loki squirmed under her gaze. In his eyes, Waverly could see his tortured soul and the pain and anger he still harbored. "I was meant to rule." Loki's voice was low and cold. "But I have abandoned my quest for Midgard."

Waverly sat up and rubbed her temples. "You need to tell Thor you're alive," she said, tossing aside the matter of King Loki for the time being.

Loki laughed and sat up as well. "I most certainly will not tell my oaf of a brother than I am alive. I have been quite content having him off my back."

No one could elicit an eye roll out of Waverly as well as Loki could. "He mourned just as much as I did."

Loki let out an irritated huff. "Well, he isn't even my real brother."

"Loki, there's a memorial dinner for you tomorrow night."

"I am well aware of Asgardian traditions."

"So you're going to let your mother and brother go on thinking you're dead?"

At the mention of Frigga, Loki lowered his eyes in shame. During his time in Asgardian prison, not only had he come to terms with his feelings for Waverly, but he had also come to terms with the fact that he really did love his adoptive mother. He didn't like the idea of hurting her no more than he liked the idea of hurting Waverly. Thor, however, he was perfectly fine having Thor think he was dead. "Waverly, I must ask you to keep this a secret. I have only made myself known to you because…"

"Because you missed me?" Waverly suggested. Now the mischievous smile was on her lips.

Loki frowned. "I… I have missed having a simple minded mortal to insult at my leisure."

Waverly rolled her eyes again and shook her head. "For crying out loud you are full of it." She punched Loki playfully in the shoulder.

"Ah, but that is why you love me," Loki said with arrogance.

Waverly let out a laugh and then settled back down into her pillows. "Well, _I_ missed you." She grabbed Loki's hand and pulled him down beside her. Her emotions finally overwhelmed her and Waverly buried her face into Loki's shoulder. She wasn't quite sure why she was crying, but she was.

Loki held her close to him, stroking her hair until finally, they both fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Omg I love you guys! Thanks so much for the reviews and adding me to your favorites! I realized that my last few updates haven't been the most grammatically correct, so I apologize for that. This one should be better. I hope you like it. Also, check out this article about Loki (take out the spaces and change the 0 to o). It's so awesome and it proves why Loki is the most awesome character in the Avengers ever!: mask of reason. wordpress . c0m /2012/05/23/very-good-writing-why-loki-won-in-the-avengers/**

** I think that's it for now.**

**I own nothing, including the article!**

Chapter Six:

She didn't want to move. She didn't want to open up her eyes. She had the most amazing dream. Loki was alive. He had come back. It felt so real. Waverly could almost feel him beside her and hear the sound of his breathing. Waverly's eyes shot open and she jolted up. Twisting around, she saw Loki lying beside her, still asleep. Waverly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. So she hadn't been dreaming; Loki really had faked his death and the day before a feast in his name, he had shown back up on Asgard, in her bedroom. Waverly shook herself, calming the overwhelming emotions that were threatening to spill over once more. She opened her eyes again and looked down at Loki.

The god was asleep, his pale face pressed against the pillow. His lips were slightly parted and his dark hair fell across his face. Where Waverly had been, Loki's arm was draped across the bed. Waverly couldn't quite explain what she felt as she watched Loki. She felt happy, overjoyed, angry, hurt; several very conflicting feelings. But, underneath all that, there was something else. Waverly had felt it before; when Loki had first kissed her. It was that strange, burning hunger the god had awakened inside of her.

Without waking him, Waverly bent down and kissed him. She felt Loki jump in surprise but he didn't back away. Waverly held back a laugh and kept her lips pressed against Loki's as he rolled her over so that she was sprawled on top of him.

When Waverly pried herself off Loki, he smiled. "My, how I've miss that," he said in his usual drawled arrogance.

Waverly rolled her eyes and slipped the pillow out from under her head, shoving it in Loki's face.

"Good morning to you, too."

Loki sat up and stretched. At some point in the night, he had taken off the suit jacket and tie. His silk shirt was halfway unbuttoned. Sitting there in human clothes, Waverly had to admit Loki looked… weird. She was used to seeing him in Asgardian garb or his golden horns and green cape.

"Loki. You have to tell me what happened."

Huffing, Loki dropped back down onto the pillows. "Yes, I thought it'd come to that sooner or later. We have been apart for how long now? Half a year of your Midgardian time? And you want to sit here and talk?"

Waverly smacked Loki playfully on the arm. "I want an explanation. You obviously knew how… how… Loki," Waverly sighed, "Loki, I thought you were dead." Blinking furiously, Waverly held back tears.

Loki shifted uncomfortably on the bed. He had never liked it when Waverly cried. It always unsettled him. That was one of the infuriating things about Waverly. She was a human yet she caused him to feel things he had formerly felt were beneath him. Loki sat back up and sighed. "Very well." He rubbed his temples with slender fingers. "As you well know, I am not about to be thrown back into prison. But," Loki rolled his eyes with exaggeration but the side of his mouth twisted in a mischievous grin, "You, my dear, you have changed me in the most…" Loki paused. He scrunched up his face in mock disgust. "You have changed me in the most despicable way possible."

Waverly shook her head and smacked Loki again. "Get on with it princy boy."

Sighing, Loki continued. "If not for you, I would have simply annihilated the Avengers, defeated The Other, and taken the Tesseract for myself, claiming my rightful place as king."

"Yeah, all right drama _queen_," Waverly made sure to emphasize the word 'queen.' "Remember, you fell in love with me before all that started."

Loki snorted. "What you call love, I call weakness." Loki's green eyes glinted as they always did when he felt pleasure in pressing Waverly's buttons.

Waverly cocked an eyebrow and glared at Loki. "Don't make me give you another bloody nose. Get on with it."

"All right, fine," Loki grumbled. "As much as it pained me to admit it, I needed the aid of your brother and his gang of misfits to help get The Other off my scent. I knew, though, that after our brief alliance, I would be back in a cell. I knew the only way to be free from your realm's so called heroes, I would need to fake my death. I would travel to the far reaches of the universe, honing my magical abilities until I found a way to both rule and have you by my side."

Though Waverly's stomach wriggled with please at the 'by my side' part, she crossed her arms and huffed. "Why not just kill us after we got rid of The Other?"

"You know very well why."

Waverly once again raised an eyebrow and glared harshly.

"Do I need to spell it out for you?" Loki said with irritation.

"Loki," Waverly said warningly. To emphasize her point, she balled a hand into a fist.

"Yes, all right! I cannot kill you."

"And why is that?" Waverly asked in a sing song voice.

Loki sighed. "I love you, you know that!"

"That's what I wanted to hear. Go on."

"I could not kill your brother nor his playmates so I fled."

Waverly nodded and relaxed. It was only the second time Loki had said he loved her. She edged across the bed to sit beside him. "But you failed, didn't you," she said teasingly.

Loki growled with annoyance. "I somehow ended up back on Midgard after the battle. That was not my plan. Though I have delved much deeper into sorcery than I have ever done before, I can't find a way to have both you and a throne."

"How come?" Waverly asked, though she suspected the answer.

"I cannot use my magic on you," Loki's voice was low.

Waverly smiled and snuggled into Loki's chest. The two sat in silent for a while. Morning light spilled in through the windows. Waverly heard the sounds of servants going about their daily business. Somewhere, Thor was overseeing the preparations for the feast that evening. In the wing above her, Waverly knew Loki's adoptive mother was no doubt in the very room where Waverly had killed Odin; mourning the loss of her husband and son.

"Loki," Waverly finally said.

"Hm?"

"Can't you let this king thing go?" Waverly tilted her head up so she was looking into Loki's face.

Loki wouldn't meet her eyes. He squirmed a little underneath her. He blinked and seemed to shake himself before he answered. "I deserve…" he trailed off.

Waverly pushed herself into a sitting position and turned to look Loki in the face. "Loki, I know you've been hurt. I know you're mad. Believe me, I know. But Loki, please, let go. For me?"

Loki finally dropped his eyes so his gaze locked with Waverly's. When he spoke, Waverly felt all the hatred and anger that she had felt when she first met Loki. "I was a pawn. I meant nothing to him. I have every right to –"

Waverly held up her hands to stop Loki. "Look, I get that. I know. I was used just like you. I was mad. I'm still mad. But Loki, please, is taking over Asgard, is that really what's going to make you feel better?"

Loki didn't answer but he seemed to resentfully relax a bit. _Well, at least we're off that topic for now, _Waverly thought. She was just about to broach the subject of telling Thor he was alive when her phone rang from her bag at the foot of the bed. Loki jumped and Waverly suppressed a giggle. She crawled to the edge of the massive bed and reached over the side into her bag. Pulling the device out, she severely hoped it wasn't Fury, calling her in. When she saw the screen, she was relieved but a new sense of dread washed over her. It was Tyson.

Waverly answered the phone.

Loki didn't like the look on Waverly's face when she answered the phone. He also did not the conversation that he was about to overhear. Waverly put the phone to her ear and said, "Hello?"

From the other end of the conversation, Loki heard a man's voice answer all too concerned. "Waverly! Are you all right?"

"Of course I'm all right, Tyson. Why are you asking?"

"Remmy and I saw some news report of the Avengers going off on some secret mission. Something about these two criminals who control fire."

"Well I didn't go. I'm fine. Look, I really can't talk about that kind of stuff outside of work."

"Oh, all right." Loki heard the dejected reply. Then, "Hey! Have you thought about what Remmy and I asked?"

Loki watched Waverly roll her eyes and muffle a groan. She got up from the bed and crossed to the other side of the room. "Tyson, listen, I really don't know. I have to think about it. It's just… everything is so painful. I just need time to think. Okay? I'll call you when I'm ready."

Loki didn't get to hear Tyson, whoever that was, respond to Waverly's statement. Waverly disconnected the phone and tossed it on the bed before she rejoined Loki.

"And who was that?" Loki asked. The god had returned to his usual cocky drawl, the emotional portion of the morning now passed.

"It's a long story."

"I believe it's your turn to do some explaining."

"Is this jealously?" Waverly asked. Her lips tilted in a mischievous smile; she had learned that from Loki.

"I do not feel such pathetic emotions as you humans do. I would just like to know who the man is that's so eager to spend time with you."

Waverly snorted. "Yeah. Right. You're jealous."

Now it was Loki's turn to glare angrily.

"Fine!" Waverly sighed with exaggeration. "His name's Tyson. We… we lived in the orphanage together." Waverly's voice lost its playfulness. "He has a twin brother; Remmy. The three of us," Waverly swallowed and squeezed her eyes shut. "We were all kidnapped by Project X. They got injected with serum too."

Loki nodded and shifted ever so slightly closer to Waverly. He was still the god of mischief after all, comfort wasn't really his thing. Still, Waverly leaned against him and continued. "I guess the serums never worked on them. But, when I joined the Avengers, they saw me on the news and tracked me down. They want to be friends again." Waverly sighed. "I just don't know, Loki. My past is just so painful."

"Were you not just telling me to move past _my_ painful past?"

Waverly rolled her eyes and snapped out of her depressed mood. "All right, we both have issues. Can we ignore that for the time being? Right now, you need to tell Thor you're alive."

Exchanging eye rolls was a common thing between the god and the human. Loki sighed. "I will not."

"He's your brother."

"He is not."

"Loki."

Loki huffed. "Why?" He whined; a habit he picked up from Waverly.

"You can't go on pretending you're dead. Not if you want to be with me. I'm part of the Avengers. So is Thor. We can't hide you forever."

"We will discuss this matter after you explain to me what that Tyson mortal was bumbling about on the phone. The Avengers are on a secret mission?" Loki was the king of twisting conversations around so that the subject was changed towards his favor.

"Why do you care?" Waverly asked. Her stomach growled so she swung herself off the bed once more and dove into her wardrobe, locating the outfit she had abandoned last night. Loki or no Loki, she was hungry and she wanted breakfast.

"If the Avengers have enemies, I can use that to my advantage."

"Yeah, whatever," Waverly picked up her clothes and padded into the washroom to change. From behind the closed door, she called to Loki. "If you must know, there's these two guys running around. Pyrokenetics. Fury wants to know what's up. They've attacked like three major cities; burn everything to the ground. But they don't give any demands, don't take anything. It doesn't make sense."

Loki nodded. He placed his slender hand to his chin in thought. "Two mysterious villains show up at nearly the same time that the twins from your past do? You think that a mere coincidence?"

Waverly emerged from the washroom, dressed, running a brush through her hair. "You think Remmy and Tyson are the fire guys?" A laugh escaped her lips. "Can't be. The serum didn't work on them."

"In the same way it didn't work on you, I suppose?"

Waverly rolled her eyes and set the brush back in her back, now fully ready for the day. "I don't think so, Tyson and Remmy… if they had some kind of powers, they wouldn't do that."

"Are you sure?"

Waverly nodded.

"Very well," Loki said. He dropped the subject though he himself was still suspicious.

Waverly was about to tell Loki she was going off the have breakfast when a knock at her bedroom door surprised both the girl and the god. In a flash of blue magic, Loki teleported himself out of the room. Waverly had no idea where he went off too, but she opened her door anyway.

"Oh, good morning Thor."

Thor nodded. "I came to escort you to breakfast. I was not sure if you remembered the way."

"Oh. Thanks. I'll be out in just a second." Before Thor had time to respond, Waverly shut her door back. Sure, it was rude to shut her door in the god of thunder's face, but Waverly needed to tell Loki something before she left. That is, if he could hear her where ever he was. "Loki," she hissed. "Loki, if you can hear me, you had better tell Thor before tonight." Waverly snatched her phone off her bag and put it in her pants' pocket then joined Thor. "So, breakfast?"

Much to Waverly's displeasure, Thor had kept Waverly at his side all day. After breakfast, the god had insisted on showing her the statue being erected in his father's honor. Then, he forced her to sit with his mother so the queen could forgive her husband's murderer. That was awkward for everyone involved. After that, the god of thunder took Waverly to see all the repairs made to the palace since the battle with the Frost Giants.

Though Waverly knew Loki was following them, she could feel his presence, the god of mischief never revealed himself to his brother. Waverly was very irritated. The feast for Loki and Odin was drawing nearer. Waverly didn't know if she could handle it, being at that feast, pretending to mourn for Loki when he was very much alive. She already suspected that Thor thought something was up; she was far too cheerful for a day that was supposed to be about honoring her dead lover.

Finally, Thor left Waverly to go prepare himself for the feast. He had abandoned Waverly at the doors to the dining hall, telling her she could seat herself and that he would be back shortly. Instead, once Thor was out of sight, Waverly sprinted up to her room. Hoping to catch Loki before the feast started. Sure enough, when she opened her bedroom door, Loki was sitting on the bed, expecting her.

"You do look beautiful in green," he said.

"Oh shut it," Waverly snapped, though her cheeks blushed. "You need to tell Thor and Frigga. I can't go in there pretending you're dead."

"My dear, have your learned nothing from me? I am the god of lies as well."

"Loki! Come on." Waverly stamped her foot and placed her hands on her hips.

"After the feast, I will."

"No. Now."

"Waverly, please. If you insist I will tell Thor and my mother. But not now. Let me enjoy some time with you. Alone. Before we delve into another mess." Loki widened his eyes in a pleading way, which of course was just acting. Sure, he did want to be with Waverly but he didn't care whether he told Thor now or not. Well, he'd rather not tell Thor but Waverly wasn't going to have that.

Waverly growled. "You are infuriating." She pretended to think. "Fine. But you tell him tomorrow night."

Loki nodded.

Waverly sat in the dining hall next to Thor. On Thor's other side was Frigga. Seated at the rest of the table were the Warriors Three, Sif, and several other Asgardians Waverly recognized from her last trip but she did not know their names. Waverly was vastly uncomfortable sitting in the hall, head down, pretending to mourn. Well, partly pretending. She really was upset that she had killed Odin; she had nightmares about it all the time. Though Thor had said her actions were justified, she still felt guilty. Every now and then, Waverly felt the angry glare of one of the tables other occupants. When this happened, Thor would place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

The room was dark, only lit by a few candles. The feast had already been served, though Waverly didn't eat much. The plates had been cleared and now glasses of some deep red, wine type drink was placed before everyone. There were also two glasses placed before two empty chairs; one for Odin, one for Loki. Then, starting with Frigga, everyone said a word about the Allfather and the god of mischief. When Frigga finished, everyone took a drink, and so on.

It came time for Waverly to speak. She was overwhelmingly nervous. She had to speak about both Loki and Odin. She stood and opened her mouth but before she could say anything, her phone ringed from her pocket. Her faced turned a deeper shade of red that the wine. She had forgotten to turn her phone off. Waverly let the phone continue to ring, hoping it would just go to voicemail. Instead, Fury overrode her phone.

"Agent Barton, I'm calling you and Thor back in. We need you here. We're at war."


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Sooo... a little shorter than I would have liked but I had a little trouble with this chapter... I hope it's alright. Thanks so much for the reviews and everything! It's awesome! =] I'll try and update again soon. I hope you like.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Seven:

Waverly's face changed from red to green faster than a traffic light. She hurriedly pulled her phone out of her back pocket and put it to her ear, shutting off the speaker phone so the rest of the room didn't hear.

"I'm in the middle of something," she hissed into the phone. She knew she was being ridiculously rude but she was already feeling so awkward, she welcomed the distraction. Waverly felt Thor's curious gaze along with Sif's angry one as she walked out of the dining hall. Waverly had never really liked Sif. She was glad to be out of the warrior's line of sight.

"I don't care," Fury barked into Waverly's ear. "This is serious. Bring Thor."

Waverly bit back a disgruntled sigh. "Sir, we are on an-"

"Agent Barton, they took Clint."

Waverly's stomach dropped to her knees. "I'll be right there." She hung up her phone and slipped it back into her pocket. Edging back into the dining hall, Waverly tried to ignore the gazes that seemed to bore holes in her body. She walked straight to Thor, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"What is it?" Thor asked, breaking the awkward silence.

Waverly leaned in to whisper in Thor's ear. "Fury wants us back. It's serious."

Thor looked torn. He looked from Waverly, to his mother, and then around at the table. He sighed and stood after a moment and addressed the table at large. "I must venture to Midgard with Lady Barton. Her realm is in trouble."

Frigga looked a little distressed but she nodded which essentially ended the memorial feast. Thor bent down and kissed his mother on the cheek. "Upon my return we shall have a proper memorial for Father and Loki."

Waverly suddenly became very interested in her shoes.

Once Thor had finished with his goodbyes, he set of briskly down the hall, Waverly trotting along at his heels. "What is threatening your realm?"

Waverly shrugged. "I'm assuming the fire guys. Fury didn't say much." She paused, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. "They captured Clint."

Thor nodded but didn't say anything else on the matter. The pair reached Waverly's bedroom door. "Get what you need. I'll meet you at the entrance hall shortly."

Waverly waited until Thor was a few paces down the hall before she entered her room. Just as she expected, Loki was waiting for her. He was sitting on the bed, cross-legged, looking through a crossword book Waverly had brought.

"This is far too easy," he mumbled.

Waverly rolled her eyes. She snatched the book from Loki and tossed it in her bag. Then, she grabbed her black and blue Ice Hawk jumpsuit and vanished into the washroom to change.

"My dear," Loki called, "Something seems to be upsetting you."

Waverly growled from behind the bathroom door. She burst back out into the bedroom, looking livid. Her jumpsuit was only half on, her torso simply covered in a bra, and she glared at Loki.

Loki snickered. "I thought you were not ready for that phase of our relationship."

Waverly held up a hand and shot a jet of ice cold water straight at Loki's face. "Damn it Loki, you know what's going on."

"Yes, you were called in. Jumping at Fury's command. I didn't think you were one of his trained dogs."

Waverly zipped up her jumpsuit and stopped for a second. She met Loki's eyes and in a low voice said, "They have my brother."

"What is it about Barton?" Loki mused. "He was the first one I turned, now these two pyrokenetics have captured him. Really? Fury needs to better pick his agents."

Waverly's powers didn't extend to her eyes, but the look she gave Loki sent a shiver down the god's spine.

"All right," Loki said, holding up his hands in a sign of peace. "I am sorry, darling."

"Tell Thor. Now."

"W-what?"

"I have a feeling we're going to need your help."

Loki sighed. With a flash of blue magic, his spear appeared in his hand. "I shall follow you and keep my eye on you. If I feel you are in need of my help, I will make myself known."

Waverly clenched her teeth to prevent herself from growling with frustration. "All right, fine."

Loki smiled and bent down to kiss Waverly, catching her by surprise. "I shall see you on Midgard." With that, the god teleported out of sight.

Sighing, Waverly shook her head. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. Wasting no more time, she slipped her feet into her special boots and grabbed her bag. Thor would probably be wondering what was taking her so long. Jogging out of her room, Waverly briefly wondered what other twist life could possibly throw at her. _Will my life ever be normal?_ Waverly actually laughed out loud. She was a science experiment and an Avenger. Her brother was an assassin. She was, for lack of a better word, dating an Asgardian prince who was also a god. No. Her life would never be normal.

* * *

Waverly had to jog to keep up with Thor's long stride. They were on their way to the Bifrost to travel back to Earth. While they walked, Waverly listened intently to her phone which was practically plastered against her ear. Bruce was on the other line. Apparently, he and Tony were on one of Tony's jets, flying to Nashville.

"So, tell me why we're suddenly at war." Waverly said.

"According to Steve, they were waiting in the hideout."

"What? Who? Where?"

"Cinder and Ash," Bruce answered. "The hideout Fury sent Steve, Nat, and Clint to. Somehow, Cinder and Ash were waiting for them there. There was a fight. An entire city block burned down. Natasha and Steve got away. We're not quite sure where they took your brother." Bruce stopped talking rather abruptly; even though Waverly was a world away, she could tell the doctor was holding something back.

"What else, Bruce?"

The doctor paused. "Nothing else."

In the background, Waverly heard Tony calling to Bruce. "Just tell her, Bruce-y. She's going to find out anyway."

Bruce sighed. "Waverly, they want you."

Waverly nearly tripped. She stumbled forward but dropped her phone. Thor stopped and picked it up, handing the device back to Waverly. "Is something wrong, Lady Barton?"

Waverly took the phone back and placed it against her ear. "Come again?"

"After they took Clint, they contacted SHIELD. They want to talk to you. That's why Fury needs you back."

"So, we're not really at war? They just want… me?"

Waverly heard static signifying Bruce had sighed again. "No. It's a war. They… well, their pyrokinetics right?"

"Yeah…" Waverly said slowly.

"Their powers extend to something we didn't expect. Cinder and Ash… they're commanding some kind of army. Made up of fire."

Waverly shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to fight off the stress headache she knew was coming. "We're on our way." She hung up on Bruce before he could pile anything else on her plate. By now, Waverly and Thor were at the Bifrost.

"What is it?" Thor insisted.

"Later. Let's just go."

Thor and Waverly arrived at the Bifrost site on Earth; the empty, dusty field in New Mexico. Fury had provided them with a car, which was waiting, engine running. Waverly wasn't shocked to see it was Agent Hill behind the steering wheel. Once Waverly and Thor were buckled up, Hill jammed her foot on the accelerator and the trio took off.

"You caught up to speed?" Hill asked.

Waverly nodded. "I am. I have to fill Thor in." She turned around in the passenger seat so she was facing Thor. She quickly told him everything Banner had told her.

"What do they want with you?" Thor wondered. He looked concerned.

"What do they want with me?" Waverly asked, turning to face Agent Hill. Waverly couldn't keep the fear from her voice.

Hill slipped a cell phone out of her pocket and handed it over to Waverly. "It's all on there."

Waverly tapped the touch screen, activating a video message. The two flamed figures she recognized as Cinder and Ash were on screen. As usual, their faces were obscured by the flames licking their bodies. Cinder was the one addressing the camera.

"Ice Hawk. Waverly Barton." Cinder's voice sounded familiar but it sent a shiver down Waverly's spine. "You're one of us, dear. An experiment. A project. We were wronged. We were used. It's time to seek revenge. You think you're part of some team. You think you special. This group you've joined, this agency you worked for, they're no better than the monsters who kidnapped us." Cinder paused, allowing his words to sink in. Waverly's brain figured what Cinder was insinuating, but it hadn't hit her just yet. "We can't wait for you to make up your mind. There are forces out there greater than you can imagine. He wants us, the three of us, to serve him. He'll help us eliminate the people who did this to us. If you want to see your so called brother alive, you'll come join us." Cinder paused again and with a snap of his fingers, the flames left his body. Ash did the same thing, revealing himself as well. Waverly gasped. "I told you, Waverly. Remmy and I missed our little sister." The video went black.

"So you know them?" Hill questioned.

Waverly dropped her head against the back of her seat. "Oh my god," she whispered. "Damn Loki, he was right."

"Loki?" Thor asked.

Waverly heaved an enormous sigh and rubbed her temples. "Yes. I know them. They lived with me in the orphanage. They were kidnapped by Project X too."

"Well," Hill said, speeding even faster down the road, "Fury will be eager to talk to you then."


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Wow. Thanks guys! I appreciate every reviewer, favorite-er, and follower. Its so awesome! School is about to get busy again so I'm not sure when the next update will be. This chapter is shorter than I would have liked but it was sort of filler between action scenes. It'll get interesting after this. As always, please review and thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Eight:

Agent Hill sped down interstates, highways, and empty country roads gradually getting closer to Nashville. Though Hill out maneuvered all the other cars on the road, the trip was still going to take a good deal of time. Thor had fallen asleep in the back seat. Waverly, tired as well, would have fallen asleep as well, but her mind was racing. She couldn't sit still in her seat either. Her leg bounced up and down nervously and she drummed her fingers on her thigh. Finally, after a long, awkward silence broken only by Thor's snoring, Hill broached what she knew were dangerous waters.

"These men, you know them?" She asked.

Waverly groaned. She really didn't want to talk about this, but she knew sooner or later she'd have to. "I don't really remember everything," she began slowly. "They were two boys at the orphanage. We were friends, I remember. They called me 'sissy.' The night I was kidnapped, they were taken too. All three of us were injected. We were separated after that." Waverly sighed. "That's all I remember."

Hill nodded thoughtfully. "From Fury's files, what I got from this whole Project X deal was that shortly after you were kidnapped, the project was shut down."

"I honestly don't remember a lot of what happened until Clint found me."

"Your powers, you didn't know about them until the Frost Giant incident?"

Waverly nodded.

"Do you think Cinder and Ash found out about their powers just as recently?" Hill glanced over at Waverly. Though the agent was just as cool and calculating and Natasha and many other SHILED spies, she could read emotions enough to know this whole situation was eating at Waverly. "I know this must be hard," she added, "But if they're after you, maybe you can turn them around…" Hill swallowed. "Sort of like with Loki."

Waverly felt her cheeks redden. "I don't want to talk about Loki." Before Hill could say anything else about the god of mischief, Waverly continued. "What I don't get is… I just don't understand it. I ran into the two of them a few days ago. At a bar. They… they acted like they missed me. They said they didn't have any powers. They called me, just yesterday. It doesn't make sense."

"There is that other force they mentioned. That's what has Fury concerned. It's reminiscent of how Loki talked about the Chituari. Any idea what it could be?"

Waverly shook her head. "No clue." She heaved an exhausted sigh. Propping her elbow up on the car door, she dropped her head into her hand and shut her eyes. Her leg was still fidgeting and though she appeared to be resting, her breath came in quick, anxious gasps.

"Just relax," Hill said. The agent pressed a little harder on the gas pedal. "I'm trying to get us to Nashville by the morning. You should get some sleep. Once we get back, there won't be any down time."

Waverly opened an eye and looked at Hill. "Agent Hill… Maria. I can't relax. Not while they have Clint." Waverly turned away from her fellow agent and stared out the window. The sun was starting to go down and the first stars were twinkling into sight. Waverly couldn't help but reminded of a time not so long ago. She had stolen a car and was speeding down the road, Loki by her side. Though the god was far from comforting and was constantly snarky and sarcastic, Waverly severely wished he was here with her. Those few nights during which she and the god were racing to New York, she had grown used to hearing the comforting rhythm of his heartbeat before she fell asleep. Waverly was tempted to wake Thor and blow Loki's secret, just so Loki could join them on this crazy new mission. Immediately after thinking this, a strange feeling of peace overcame her. She felt more relaxed than she had in ages. Waverly leaned back into her seat and closed her eyes. Sleep was slowly overtaking her. Loki had something to do with this, she just knew it. He was doing some of his freaky magic to calm her. It was almost as if she could feel his irritating yet welcome presence in her mind. Despite the horrible situation she currently found herself, Waverly fell asleep with a small smile on her face.

* * *

Waverly awoke suddenly to Thor's deep voice. "Lady Barton, we have arrived." Thor had one of his strong hands on Waverly's shoulder and he was gently shaking her awake.

Waverly blinked and straightened up in her seat. She rubbed her eyes and looked out the window. It was early in the morning. The sky was a dull grey. Faded stars could still be seen in the sky but the sun was beginning to spill over the horizon. Hill had kept her promise to get them to Nashville by the morning.

Currently, the agent was navigating the car through the narrow streets of downtown. A few early risers were here and there, but otherwise the roads were empty. Hill drove past a block jam packed with skyscrapers, office buildings, and the like. The next block was a stark contrast to the usual downtown scenery. Waverly gasped. "Oh my god."

Hill slowed a bit so Waverly and Thor could take in the scene. The block before them was like a miniature wasteland. The charred remains of buildings lay behind police tape. A thick pile of ashes covered anything that remained; but there wasn't much.

"Ty- " Waverly swallowed the lump in her throat. She just couldn't believe Tyson and Remmy had done this. "Cinder and Ash did this?"

"Yes," Hill answered. She sped back up but Waverly craned around in her seat to continue to gaze in shock at the devastation.

"How… were there civilian causalities?"

Hill sighed. "Five."

Waverly clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms. Her breath came in quick gasps, covering the window in a thin layer of frost. "I just can't believe it."

A short while later, Hill pulled up to a seemingly normal hotel. She parked the car and led Waverly and Thor to a side entrance. With a swipe of her SHIELD security badge, the door opened to a small elevator that took them to the top floor. The top floor was one of SHILED's many undercover spots located in various places around the country; there were even a few in some other countries. The floor was only accessible via secret elevators and SHIELD ID badges. SHIELD paid a high price for their secret hideaways, but it was well worth it.

Hill pointed to a room at the end of the hall and instructed Waverly and Thor to go inside before she disappeared into another room to their right. Waverly and Thor did as instructed. Inside the room was a wall-sized computer screen, a long table ringed with chairs, and the rest of the team. Fury was at the head of the table. Once he saw Waverly, he stood.

"Good, you're here. Who are these guys? How do they know you?"

"Right to the point, eh boss?" Waverly said. She took a seat net to Natasha, noticing the gauze wrapped around the assassin's forearm.

"Now is not the time for jokes, Barton." Fury barked. "This is serious."

"I know," Waverly said. She locked gazes with Fury. "It doesn't matter who they are or how I know them. How are we getting Clint out of there?"

"Barton, you do not run this operation. I do. Now answer my questions."

"Cinder is Tyson. Ash is Remmy." Waverly said shortly. "We were in the orphanage together." Once more, Waverly told the painful story of her past.

When she was finished, Fury sighed and sat back down. "You have no idea what they want? Who this 'other force' is?"

Waverly shook her head.

"All right, here's the plan." Fury picked a small remote off the table and pressed a button. On the screen behind him was a blueprint of an old warehouse. "This is where they've taken Clint. Waverly. You will be dispatched to this warehouse. You're mission is to locate Clint."

"Hold up a second," Waverly said. "You want me to just waltz in there? Just like they want?"

Fury nodded. "Rogers and Romanoff will go with you. They will be stationed at the end of the block as backup if needed. The plan is, you go in and they release Clint. Once Clint is back with us, we can lead a force in to take on Cinder and Ash. We'd send a force in now but obviously, we have no idea what we're dealing with. They were expecting us yesterday. We need to have some sort of upper hand. Clint will know the layout of the building for an attack."

"Sir," Waverly said, standing. Her stomach was twisted in knots. "With all due respect, this is essentially a hostage situation; how many hostage situations have worked out as planned?"

Fury's gaze was cold. "Very few. This is all we've got, Barton. They obviously want you. You won't be compromised."

"Yeah," Waverly said. "But Clint just might be."

* * *

Waverly had changed out of her SHILED uniform and was in normal street clothes; a pair of jeans and an 'I love Nashville' sweatshirt. She looked like the typical tourist. However, she wore her special boots and tucked into the waist of her jeans was a small knife, just in case. Fury didn't want to risk sending Waverly in with any tech, so she was as alone as could be. That is, until another street goer approached her.

"Good morning, miss."

"Dude, I don't want to be rude but I'm a little busy right now." Waverly attempted to brush past the man and continue on, but he matched her pace and kept right on at her side.

"My dear," he continued, "You've never worried about being rude to me before."

Waverly looked out of the corner of her eye up at the man's face. She nearly tripped over herself once she saw who it was. She had barely recognized him. He was dressed in black jeans, green Converse tennis shoes, and a green V-neck t-shirt. He was hardly recognizable as the god of mischief. His hair was even pulled back into a pony tail. He looked like your average hipster, strolling the city, on his way to a morning coffee. "Loki, good lord. What are you doing? What if someone sees you?"

Loki rolled his eyes and gestured at his outfit. "I hardly think any of your colleagues will recognize me in this ridiculous get up."

Waverly relaxed a little. With Loki at her side, the thought of walking straight into the lion's den wasn't as terrifying as it was when Fury had first proposed this plan. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to remind you that I will be here, watching. If I sense you are in any danger at all, I will intervene."

"Thank you."

Loki nodded. It took all his will power not to bend down and kiss Waverly. "I am doing this only for you, not for the others."

"I know, Loki."

"Very well. I shall be off." Without another word, Loki strode off ahead of Waverly and entered, yes, a coffee shop a few doors down from the warehouse that housed Clint.

Waverly picked up her pace. Loki would be watching her. Everything would be okay. Still, she couldn't shake the overwhelming nervousness that gnawed at her stomach. Before she knew it, she was at the door to the warehouse. She reached out a shaking hand and turned the handle. It was unlocked. She let herself in.

It was dark inside and a thick layer of dust blanketed everything. Three pairs of footsteps dotted the dirty floor. No doubt they were Tyson's, Remmy's, and Clint's. Waverly followed them to an old elevator at the other side of the room. Her body was tense as she walked. Her senses were on edge. Waverly's eyes darted around the room, taking in everything she could. The place smelled like a freshly put out fire. And it was hot; irritatingly hot. Waverly experimented with her powers; breathing slowly out of her nose. To her dismay, her breath didn't crystalize before her. She wouldn't be able to fight very well in this environment. The faster she found Clint, the better.

Waverly had reached the elevator. She pressed the 'up' button; it was the only option. The doors slid open and she stepped in. Looking at the choices of buttons before her, there was only one without a layer of grime covering it; the top floor, floor 10. She pressed the button and the doors creaked closed. With a rattling jerk, the elevator began to ascend.

Struggling to keep control of her breath, Waverly was anxious to find out what was waiting for her at the top floor. She didn't have long to wonder. Before she knew it, she was at the tenth floor. The elevator let out an all too cheery ding and the doors slid open.

Before her, Clint was chained to a chair. He was gagged and blindfolded. On one side of him stood Tyson, on the other, Remmy. The twins weren't bathed in flames but they were dressed in their fire resistant suites. Remmy's face was expressionless but Tyson had an evil smile twisting his lips.

"Waverly, how good to see you."


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: I know it's a tad shorter than usual but it's action packed! Thanks so much for the reviews and everything. A few of my regular reviewers are guests, so I can't send you private messages to personally thank you, but you're reviews are awesome and I love reading them! I hope you enjoy!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Nine:

Tyson's casual tone just managed to piss Waverly off more than she already was. She felt her fists tighten as she stepped from the elevator. The doors slid closed behind her with an ominous thud. The closer she got to her two former friends, the warmer the room became. She also noticed that upon mention of her name, Clint began struggling against his restraints. Waverly stopped about halfway across the room.

"Tyson," she said, glad her voice was steady, "I'd say likewise but I'm kinda angry with you right now."

Tyson's lips tilted up in a snarl. He took a few steps toward Waverly. "There's no need to be angry with me. I won't hurt him." He cocked his head backwards at Clint. "I mean, burns heal after all."

Waverly was sure her fingernails were cutting into the skin of her palms. Her core body temperature dropped, as it always did when she was angry. She took another step towards Tyson. "Dude, what the hell is all this about? You killed innocent people back there."

"Why should I care about them?" Tyson snapped. His arrogant expression dropped from his face and anger replaced it. "Did anyone care about us? Did anyone stop those monsters from kidnapping us? No. Not a single person."

Responding to this was going to be a challenge. Waverly knew where Tyson was coming from. She had felt the same way. _God, this is like dealing with Loki all over again._ Waverly sighed through her nose. "These people didn't do anything to you. Clint didn't do anything to you. The project was shut down and the scientists arrested. Just let it go."

Tyson laughed. "You always were naïve. You think any one human is different from another?"

"You're human," Waverly pointed out. She tensed up even more, sensing that things were about to get violent. Tyson had a mad glint in his eyes and there was a slight hint of insanity in his voice.

"I haven't been human since I was five years old." Tyson took a few more steps towards Waverly. As he walked, flames erupted from his pores and bathed his body. "Do you think this is human? We're not human, Waverly. We're science experiments. We were no more human to those people than lab rats. And you're little team? Banner, Rogers, Stark. They're all projects being used by humans in order for the humans to have control."

Sweat began to trickle down Waverly's forehead. Tyson was gradually edging closer so she began to focus all her energy on her hands. If a fight was about to happen, she could probably only get one good blast of ice off in this heat. "Tyson." Waverly struggled to keep her voice even. "You're talking crazy. Just calm down and listen to me."

"No!" A flare burst from the top of Tyson's head. "You listen to me. There is a force out there greater than you can imagine. He strengthened our powers. He'll help us crush the pathetic people who did this to us. We can rule this planet, as we should."

Looking over Tyson's shoulder, Waverly saw Remmy shift slightly so that he was behind Clint. Waverly didn't like where things were going. "Stop this, Tyson. You can come with me; be an Avenger."

"Haven't you been listening? I won't be another lab rat! When they created us, they wanted to make a race of super humans. What they didn't realize was that by making us, they created the very thing that can eliminate them from this planet."

Tyson was now just an arm's length away from Waverly. She could feel the heat jumping from his body and slamming against her. Waverly strongly disliked heat ever since she became Ice Hawk. She was quickly losing her cool; no pun intended. "Look, I don't know what this 'other force' told you but you need to back off."

"He sought us out! He knows our power. I was the one who convinced him to wait to attack this world until we had you on our side."

Waverly's stomach twisted uncomfortably. "What's so special about me?"

"You're one of us!" Tyson let out a frustrated growl and the flames around his body were extinguished. "And if there's anything in this world I can about beside myself, it's you."

Waverly saw her opportunity and took it. Tyson had dropped his guard just for a second to say this emotional statement. The temperature dropped just enough for Waverly to shoot a blast of ice from each palm. The columns of glittering ice wouldn't last long up here, so Waverly had to move fast. The ice hit Tyson and pinned him to the floor, freezing him in place. Waverly sprinted across the room to where Clint was. Remmy was still behind the capture archer, a look of shock on his face.

Behind her, Waverly heard Tyson yell to his brother. "Stop her!"

Remmy took a second to light himself on fire and Waverly took that brief moment in time to blow ice onto the chains restraining her brother. With a carefully placed jab of her fist, she shattered the chain. Clint sprang up and ripped the blindfold from his face while simultaneously pulling the gag out of his mouth with the other hand.

"Waverly what the hell do you think you're doing, coming in here like this?" He shouted.

"Saving your ass. Let's go." She turned and ducked, dodging a blast of fire from Remmy. Clint kicked the chair that was just previously his prison into the human flame thrower, knocking Remmy to the floor.

Waverly was almost to the elevator, Clint at her heels, when she heard the sound of shattering ice. Tyson's restraints had given away to the pyro's heat. Tyson flipped himself up from the floor and shot a jet of fire above the sibling's heads. The floor between them and the elevator erupted into a wall of flames. It was then that Waverly realized that underneath all the grime on the floor was a layer of gasoline. Tyson and Remmy had rigged this place to be their perfect weapon. Waverly skidded to a halt and wheeled around to face Tyson. Clint also padded to a stop beside her.

"Tyson, stop this!" Waverly shouted, much braver than she felt. The heat was so overwhelming, she was sure her powers were useless.

"Waverly," Clint hissed to his sister. "Let it go. We need to find a way out of here." Clint scanned the room with his sniper trained eyes, looking for an escape.

Waverly, however, was still focused on Tyson. Tyson was shooting off more balls of fire, lighting more of the room on fire. "The flames can't hurt me, Waverly. But they can hurt you. I said I wouldn't hurt your _brother_. I just want you."

"Don't listen to him," Clint said, gritting his teeth. He had found their escape, he was just trying to figure out how to execute their departure.

"Look, I'm not becoming a criminal for you!" Waverly shouted.

Clint elbowed Waverly. "Let's go." He took off back toward the unconscious Remmy and the chair. Dangling a few feet above the toppled chair was a chain that had served some purpose years ago when the warehouse was functioning. Waverly ran after her brother, putting two and two together and realizing his plan. There was a small window on the wall behind the chair. Clint was going to swing off the chain, break the window open and _hopefully_ they could jump from the window and land of the fire escape of the apartment building next door.

Just as Clint launched himself into the air, Tyson called back out to Waverly. "But you were willing to turn criminal for the Asgardian?"

Waverly stumbled to a stop. With an open mouth and wide eyes, she slowly turned back to face Tyson. "How… how do you know about that?"

"Waverly!" Clint had just managed to get Waverly's attention before he crashed through the window.

Waverly whipped back around. Tripping over her own two feet, she scrambled toward the window. Tyson was too fast for her. He arched a fireball over her head which landed on the floor before the window and blocked her path. Waverly skidded to a stop once more and jerked back around to look at Tyson. She was still in shock over his last statement and couldn't quite form a sentence that made sense.

"What… Tyson, let me… how do you know?"

As per his promise, Loki joined the already chaotic seen. He burst into the room via a flash of blue magic. As if Tyson was waiting for this exact moment, he fired a blast of fire at the spot Loki was currently teleporting into. Before the god could even get a good footing, he was hit by the fire and thrown backwards, a singed hole in his green T-shirt.

Waverly, now totally useless, gaped from Loki to Tyson. Tyson strolled arrogantly up to her and grabbed her by the forearm. "One way or another, you're coming with me," he growled. Tyson dragged her over towards Remmy and grabbed his twin with his free hand. Then, a rumble like thunder shook the building. Before Waverly realized what was going on, she, along with Remmy and Tyson, was gone.

* * *

Clint slammed into the brick wall of the building next to the warehouse. He tumbled down onto a metal fire escape, no doubt alarming the women in the apartment that the fire escape served. "Son of a bitch," he mumbled, coughing out a mouth full of blood. He climbed to his feet and looked back at the warehouse. Flames were curling out from underneath the roof. Slowly, the building was becoming engulfed in flames. Waverly hadn't jumped out behind him.

"Waverly!" He yelled, his voice already hoarse from the smoke hanging in the air.

Nothing. "Damn it!" Clint reached behind him, groping for his bow before he realized Cinder and Ash had taken it from him. Clint's mind raced. He frantically tried to think of a way to save his sister. He was jolted from his racing mind when a second figure appeared on the fire escape. The man just appeared out of thin air. Clint jumped and clutched his chest. Could things get any more insane? "What the hell dude?! Where did you come from? Look, you gotta help me."

The man struggled to his feet. He was tall, thin, and pale. That wasn't the oddest part. His shirt had a hole in it, scorched around the edges, exposing a brilliant burn on his chest. That was still not the oddest thing. Clint felt like he knew this man, but couldn't remember his name.

"We must return to your team. The one called Cinder has taken your sister. They have fled the building."

It didn't register right away. "Dude, I don't think you understand. My sister is in there." He gestured frantically towards the building.

The man grabbed Clint by the shoulders and looked him in the eye. "Agent Barton. They have fled. We need to regroup."

"Holy shit," Clint gasped. Clearly, hitting that brick wall messed with his head. He was almost certain Loki was standing before him, holding him by the shoulders. But Loki was dead, wasn't he.

"Yes, I know. Shall we assembled your team and save your sister or stand around here gaping like buffoons?"


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: AND AN UPDATE! I know it's not long but we'll get into some action next chapter! Thanks for all the reviews and everything! I hope you like!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Ten:

Clint could hear fire engines screaming towards their location. Smoke was thick in the air, burning Clint's nose and lungs. He was sore all over and wanted desperately to lie down but was filled with overwhelming anxiety over his sister. To top it all off, Loki, the assumed dead god of mischief and SHIELD's most wanted criminal, was standing in front of him, shaking him by the shoulders. And the dude had his hair in a ponytail. Clint rubbed his forehead with his knuckles.

"I said, shall we rescue your sister?" Loki shook Clint again. "I do not know where your team is so I am relying on you to take us to their location."

Clint shook his head and squinted through the smoke. Yes; he was without a doubt looking at Loki. "You're supposed to be dead."

Loki used every ounce of his being to restrain himself from knocking the archer out. "There is time for that later. Your sister has been taken."

Clint finally snapped out of his shocked stupor. "I don't know where they've set up headquarters. Are you sure Waverly's not in there?"

Loki nodded. "The one called Cinder took her. He used some kind of magic to teleport out of the building."

By now, Steve and Natasha had arrived on the scene. Neither were in uniform, in order to keep their cover, but both were armed with hand guns. Natasha had seen Clint crash from the warehouse onto the adjacent building's fire escape. She called up to her partner.

"Clint, where's Waverly?" As she spoke, the assassin scanned the surrounding area, looking for the hostiles.

Steve nudged Natasha and gestured up towards Clint. "Who's with Barton?"

Before either of them could figure it out, Loki had teleported himself and Clint to the ground beside the other two Avengers. The second he got his footing, Clint began barking commands. "Nat, take us back to base. Steve, you help the firemen get the blaze under control."

Steve nodded and ran off towards the fire trucks screeching to a halt nearby. Natasha was not about to follow along so easily. "Clint, who's this?" Natasha's gun was trained on Loki's exposed chest.

"Later. Come on."

* * *

Back at base, Fury wasted no time in interrogating Clint. The SHIELD director along with Agent Hill and the remaining Avengers were seated in the makeshift debriefing room. On the wall sized screen behind Fury, live footage of the warehouse fire was displayed.

"What happened back there? Where is Ice Hawk?" Fury barked out questions before Clint's brain even had time to comprehend them. "Where did the hostiles go? Were there civilian casualties?" Then, Fury spotted the strange man Clint had brought back to base. "Who the hell is this?"

Clint exchanged a glance with Loki. The latter sighed and rolled his eyes. "Listen well mortals, because I am only saying this once."

From across the room, Thor narrowed his eyes and gazed at the newcomer with confusion.

"Since it seems you humans have one track minds, I will tell my story so that we may get on with rescuing Waverly." Loki strode to the middle of the room. He allowed his magic to dissolve his disguise so that he was dressed in his usual leather and gold armor. "Yes, it is I, Loki. You all thought me to be dead. I faked my death in order to escape imprisonment by your agency. It was my hope to find a way to elude you whilst securing myself a life with the human girl. Now that she has been captured, it was time for me to make my presence known."

Thor stood up so fast, his chair was knocked backward onto the floor. "Brother! You live! I cannot tell you how happy I am to hear of this!" Thor walked briskly around the table and enveloped his brother in an enormous bear hug. Beneath Thor's bulging muscles, Loki scowled and squirmed his way out of Thor's grip.

"This is precisely why I wanted my presence to remain a secret."

The rest of the room was not as… overjoyed as Thor was. Tony swore and ran a hand through his hair.

"I knew it. I knew it. Loki being dead was just too good to be true."

Next to Tony, Bruce was looking astonished. Meanwhile, Natasha was looking at Loki with narrowed eyes. The second he had transformed back into his usual appearance, she had aimed her gun at his head.

"Please, Miss Romanoff. Isn't that a bit much?" Loki drawled.

Fury finally regained his voice. "I'd say it's not nearly enough. Damn, Loki you are in such deep shit right now."

Thor, who was completely oblivious to the fact that the rest of the room still saw Loki as a criminal and a threat, draped one of his meaty arms over Loki's shoulders. "We must inform Mother at once! She was heartbroken to hear of your death… again."

"Slow down, Thor," Fury said. He walked over to the other side of the table, taking a pair of handcuffs from his belt as he did so. "Loki is a wanted criminal. He has to face justice."

For what felt like the millionth time in just a few short minutes, Loki focused all his energy on not lashing out at these insolent buffoons. "I believe," he said, his voice strained, "Our top priority at the moment is retrieving Waverly."

Clint sighed through gritted teeth. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Loki."

Fury clenched his jaw while he assessed the current situation. They had teamed up with Loki once and things went all right; that is until Loki 'died,' thereby escaping punishment. These two new criminals, Cinder and Ash, obviously SHIELD and the Avengers were not prepared to take them on; maybe Loki's help could prove beneficial. There was this 'other force' the pyrokenetics kept mentioning. Who knew what that could be? If Loki was willingly offering his help, it might be wise to take him up on his offer. Once Cinder and Ash had been taken care of, Fury could deal with Loki.

"Teaming up with you was supposed to be a one in a million kind of thing," Fury finally said. "But, it looks like we," Fury paused before choking out the rest of his sentence through his clenched jaw, "require your assistance once more."

Loki couldn't help but smile smugly. "Naturally."

"Cut the attitude," Fury spat. "Now you or Clint, someone explain to me what happened back there."

Clint and Loki then recapped the events of the recent past. Loki informed the team that he had tried to intervene and rescue Waverly, but it was as if Cinder had anticipated his appearance. He explained how Cinder had fled with Ash and Waverly by using some type of magic.

Fury furrowed his brow in thought. "Magic? I thought they could only control fire."

"That is what I do not understand," Loki said. "Magic is a difficult art to master. I don't believe the serums these humans have been injected with could grant them these abilities."

"There is that other force they keep harping on about," Clint interjected. "Cinder said something about it enhancing their powers."

"Or," Natasha spoke up, "The other force could be what transported them from the building."

"I think this other force needs to be our focus," Fury said. "Cinder and Ash seem to be your typical egomaniacs; they're a dime a dozen. Stark, can you and Banner go through our files and see if you can glean any info on this mysterious force?"

Tony nodded.

"We can analyze an energy signature of what's left of the warehouse," Bruce added. "That might give us some clues."

"Good. It could also point us in Cinder and Ash's direction." Fury turned to face Loki and Clint. "Can I trust you two to work together and organize a team to rescue Ice Hawk."

The god of mischief and the archer locked gazes. It was a tense moment but both nodded.

"Thor will go with you; to keep Loki under control."

Loki suppressed an eye roll. Right now, his pride needed to take a back seat. Saving Waverly was his top priority.

* * *

Waverly didn't know where she was. She was dazed and confused and sore all over. Tyson was dragging her down a dark hallway, his nails digging into her forearm. Some kind of magic had taken them away from the burning building to this new place. Wherever they were, it was stifling hot but dark as night; the only light came from a tongue of fire flickering above Tyson's palm. Waverly tried desperately to get a good jet of water to erupt from her body, but even if she could, it would do no good. Unless she could freeze Tyson, the pyro would just capture her once more. Tyson hadn't said a word since they left the warehouse and Waverly was still in such shock, she didn't think she could form proper syllables. When they had reached the end of the hall, Tyson finally spoke.

"Just so you can't get away." He pulled a syringe from his pocket and plunged it into Waverly's arm.

She winced in pain and clutched her arm with her other hand. "W-what was that?"

"I invented it just for this purpose." Tyson shoved Waverly against the wall while he unlocked a thick steel door beside them. "It's not enough to undo what Project X did, but it'll inhibit your powers for a while." Tyson pushed the door open and steered Waverly into the room. "You'll get your powers back once you decide to join us."


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Sorry it took so long. Christmas was crazy for me so I haven't had much time to update. I know this is short but this was sort of a transition chapter. Next chapter will be more action-y. Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, follows, etc. I hope you like!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Eleven:

It was so hot in her cell, Waverly broke out into a sweat just sitting there. Her arm still stung where Tyson had injected her with… well with whatever it was he injected her with. He had said it would inhibit her powers for a while; sort of undo what Project X had done. Already, Waverly could feel the effects of the antiserum running through her veins. Her mind felt fuzzy and she couldn't really focus. Not only that, but she was overwhelmingly tired and her muscles felt weak. She didn't even try to get off a burst of ice or water. For one thing, it was way too hot in her cell. Even if Waverly could focus her powers, the heat would just counter act them; she wasn't called Ice Hawk for nothing. Add to all that the fact Waverly's lungs were still searing from all the smoke she had inhaled and the mind-numbing fact that Tyson knew about Loki. Waverly was for sure out of commission for the time being.

Waverly focused on her breathing, trying to get her heart rate under control so she could think clearly. She took in her surroundings. Her cell was small; way smaller than the cell she had been locked up in in Avenger's Tower. It was made completely of stone. There was nothing in the room' it was completely bare. The door was made of thick steel with a small barred window serving as the only view to the outside world. Once Waverly felt like her legs could support her weight again, she stood and crossed to the door. Reaching out, Waverly grabbed one of the bars in the window. She immediately withdrew her hand and suppressed a cry of pain. The metal bars were searing hot. It was like this whole place was inside an oven. Waverly looked down at her hand and already saw bright red blisters forming. This place, wherever it was, was completely and totally opposite her element. Fire and heat; yeah, Waverly wasn't good with that.

Abandoning the cell door, Waverly settled in a corner of her cell. At least the stone wasn't as hot. Waverly closed her eyes and recalled the events of the recent past. She had entered the warehouse which was rigged to be the perfect weapon for Cinder and Ash. She had managed to rescue Clint but before the two of them could escape, Tyson brought up Loki. Waverly's stomach twisted. How could he know about that? Sure, the whole world knew who Loki was; who didn't after the battle in New York? But no one outside of the Avengers knew about her relationship with the god of mischief. No one but…

Waverly's eyes sprung open. _The Other._ He had known about Loki and Waverly. Waverly's mind raced. It all started to make sense now. The Other was the strange force Tyson kept mentioning. He was the one who awakened the powers granted to Tyson and Remmy by Project X's serums. It was The Other's magic that transported them out of the burning warehouse. The Other was the one who told Tyson about Waverly and Loki.

But, The Other had died. He disintegrated into a pile of ashes when Loki stabbed the Tesseract.

_Good lord, we are such idiots!_ If Loki had used magic to escape the Tesseract's blast of energy, what was stopping The Other from doing so as well? From what Waverly knew about him, he shared many of the magical abilities that Loki had. He could teleport, summon energy with his weapons; who's to say he couldn't have escaped Loki's final attack.

The Other would be out for revenge. Plus, he still had a master to serve, whoever that was. It would be easy for him to manipulated Tyson and Remmy's hostile feelings and turn them to his side; just like he did with Loki.

Waverly struggled to remain calm. She needed to get out of here and warn Fury about what they faced.

* * *

Loki sat in a smaller meeting room with Clint and Thor. The god of mischief was trying very hard not to incinerate his so called partners. Still, Loki could help but drum his fingers along his staff; the temptation was almost overwhelming. So far, the three of them hadn't come up with a single plan to rescue Waverly. Thor, the simpleton, was still elated that Loki was alive. If Loki had to endure one more hug from his oaf of a brother, he was sure he'd finally lose what little self-control he had. Then there was the archer. Clint had done nothing productive. First, he argued with Romanoff for a good fifteen minutes. The female assassin trusted Loki about as far as she could throw him. Loki smirked; at least _she_ had some form of intelligence. Then, Rogers had returned, covered in ash and grime. Loki had to once again explain why he was very much alive and not dead. To top everything off, Stark had interrupted several times to make jokes at Loki's expense.

Finally, the god couldn't take it anymore. He pushed himself up from his chair and banged his fist on the table. "Are we going to make any forward progress? Or shall I go off and find the girl myself?"

Clint scowled across the table at Loki. "What do you suggest we do, Loki? You've shot down every idea I've come up with."

"Brother! I must tell Mother you are alive at once!"

Loki rolled his eyes and brushed Thor away. "If you are not going to contribute to our mission, please keep you big mouth shut, Thor." Before his elder brother could retaliate, Loki turned back to the archer. "You are a master assassin. You know the advantages of stealth and the element of surprise. Yet all your plans involve barging in on these two villains and shooting them up with arrows. These pyrokenetics have been one step ahead of you and your agency this whole time. We need a different plan."

Clint huffed. "I'm sorry that I'm anxious to get my sister away from those freaks."

What followed was a very odd moment. When asked about this incident in the future, none of the men involved would admit that it had happened: Loki's face softened ever so slightly. He locked gazes with Clint. "I understand. I want her back too. But we must think rationally." Loki reached across the table and put a hand on Clint's shoulder. He knew this was some sort of comforting gesture, but Loki had never understood why. He wasn't exactly the comforting type.

Clint glanced at Loki's hand then looked back at the god's eerie green eyes. The archer nodded. "Yeah, I know. All right." Clint then shook himself, knocking Loki's hand away. "Never speak of this again."

Loki nodded. "Agreed. Now, let's think."

* * *

Waverly had lost track of time. She had no idea how long she had been in the sweltering stone cell. Tyson had taken her phone before he locked her up, so she had no way to check the time, or get ahold of Fury. Waverly's stomach was twisted in knots. She paced her cell. She tried desperately to think of a way to escape or to at least warn Fury that The Other was the one behind all this. Hours passed, for all Waverly knew, she could have been in the cell for a full day already. Finally, she heard footsteps coming toward her cell that broke the monotony of her imprisonment.

A shadow passed over the window to her cell, followed by clanking as the door opened. Waverly expected to see Tyson, or even The Other, so she was surprised when it was Remmy who entered the room. He carried a syringe in his hand, full of a neon blue liquid.

A light bulb went off in Waverly's head. So far, in all that had happened, Remmy had kept quiet, remained silent. Waverly got the feeling he was simply following his brother's orders. Remmy didn't seem as crazily invested in this plan of destruction as Tyson did. Now was Waverly's chance to try at an escape.

"Your brother send you?" Waverly kept her voice steady but allowed a hint of anger and frustration to seep into her words.

Remmy shut the cell door behind him and walked into the cell. "He's not the boss here." Remmy said quietly.

"Then why are you doing this?" Waverly asked. She watched as Remmy approached her, readying the syringe. Apparently, it was time for Waverly to receive another injection to keep her powers inhibited. That must mean her powers would start to come back soon. Her mind raced even faster.

Remmy didn't answer right away. He was standing in front of Waverly now. "Life hasn't been easy ever since we were kidnapped." He reached out and grabbed Waverly's arm, rolling up her sleeve so he could give her the second injection. "Tyson changed."  
Remmy held the needle above Waverly's arm. The tip hovered less than a centimeter from her skin. Remmy's hesitation was all Waverly needed.

She kneed Remmy in the crotch and her former friend bent over, dropping the syringe. Waverly scooped it up and plunged it into Remmy's shoulder. She made sure to only inject him with about half of the anti-serum. If she came across Tyson, she may need to use the rest against him. Before Remmy could recover, Waverly ripped the needle from his arm and sprinted to the cell door. She kicked it open with her boot, afraid of burning herself again on the metal. Then, she took of down the hall. She wasn't really sure where she was going or what she'd do if she came across The Other. All Waverly knew was that she was no longer in her cell and her powers were slowly coming back. That had to be better than being a prisoner. Now, she needed to warn Fury.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Sooooo I lied... this chapter isn't as action-y as I had anticipated... I'm having a little trouble getting to the big battle for this story... Anyways... school has started for me again. My schedule doesn't seem as hectic as last semester so I might be able to update more often. We'll have to see. As always, thanks for the reviews/favorites/follows. I hope you enjoy.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Twelve:

Now that she was free from her cell, Waverly realized her plan was very poorly thought out. She had no idea how to get out of wherever she was and even if she got out, she didn't know where she was or how to get back to her team. For all she knew, The Other could have teleported her and the twins to another planet. Still, Waverly didn't have time to stop and think. Just the fact that she was no longer imprisoned made her feel in control. Waverly sprinted down the hall to what she hoped was the way out. There was a thick steel door at the end of the hall. It stood slightly ajar. Apparently, Remmy hadn't felt the need to close it.

Waverly bolted through the door. She found herself in what appeared to be an abandoned prison yard. She was surrounded by towering concrete walls and a watch tower hovered over her. The yard was bare, minus a few dead weeds and a thick layer of dust. Waverly quickly scanned the yard. She saw no sign of Tyson, The Other, or anyone else; not even those freaky fire things that the twins could create.

She had to think fast. No doubt Remmy was on her heels. Even if his pyrokenetics had been inhibited, Waverly didn't think her powers were back in full force yet. Remmy was a good twenty pounds heavier and six inches taller; in a fight, Waverly didn't think she'd be able to beat him without her ice powers. And then, even if she somehow overpowered Remmy, Tyson and The Other were somewhere in this place, she knew it. Waverly needed to get out and fast. Despite her situation, Waverly had to smile. Breaking out of prisons was something she had experience in. She had helped Loki bust out of both Asgardian and Jotun prison as well as lying to Fury in order to get out of her cell the time she had been locked up.

The abandoned prison Waverly was currently in was thankfully in very poor condition. The metal and barbed wire fence that lined the tall walls had fallen down in places, creating a convenient, albeit dangerous, ladder in certain locations. The only problem was that Waverly was approximately five feet tall. The lowest hanging piece of fence, if Waverly had to guess, dangled fifteen feet above the ground. She would need a boost.

Before she could figure something out, she heard hurried footsteps behind her. Wheeling around, Waverly wasn't shocked to see Remmy behind her. He held the arm that Waverly had stabbed with his good hand.

"Listen," he hissed. His eyes scanned the prison yard nervously and he kept glancing up at the watch tower. "Before they see you, you got to get out of here."

Needless to say, Waverly was thoroughly confused. She took a cautious step back from Remmy and held up the syringe like a weapon. "No, you listen, Remmy."

Remmy breached the gap between them and clasped a hand over Waverly's mouth. "Just shut up and listen. Tyson's gone mad. Take the antiserum and get out of here. Get back to your team."

Waverly's eyes widened.

Remmy sighed. "I can't explain. There's no time." He nodded toward the hanging fence that Waverly had noticed earlier. "I'll give you a boost."

Before Waverly could either accept or reject Remmy's offer, the pyro grabbed Waverly by the wrist and dragged her toward the prison wall. He laced his fingers together and bent his knees. "Come on, jump."

Still wildly confused, Waverly had sense enough to put a foot in Remmy's hands. Waverly was thrust in the air and she managed to grab the edge of the fence. Instantly, her fingers were slashed open by the remnants of barbed wire.

"Go!" Remmy hissed.

Waverly began climbing. As she climbed, she saw out of the corner of her eye, Remmy running towards the watch tower. Waverly assumed Tyson and The Other were up in there and Remmy was off to distract them while she escaped. She held the syringe between her teeth while she climbed.

In no time at all, she had reached the top of the wall. The palms of her hands were covered in scratches and scrapes but she didn't have time to stop and dwell on the pain. Waverly looked over the edge of the wall and saw she was at least twenty-five feet above the ground. Swallowing a wave of nervousness, Waverly jumped off the wall. She hoped her powers were back enough so that she could blast water from the soles of her feet to slow her descent. Otherwise, she'd be limping back to the Avengers on two broken legs, at best.

* * *

Fury strode into the debriefing room, his cell phone in hand and a look of irritation on his face. In the room before him, he saw Clint and Loki drawing various diagrams depicting Waverly's rescue. The god and the archer were arguing, no shock there. Meanwhile, Thor was seated at the table, a look of defeat on his face.

"What's going on?" Fury asked the god of thunder.

Thor sighed. "They have been at this all day. They cannot come to an agreement on a plan of action. I fear if we do not rescue the girl soon, it might be too late."

Fury allowed himself a smirk, something that rarely happened. "I'll handle it." The SHIELD director cleared his throat loudly. Both Loki and Clint froze and turned to face Fury. "Why is it, I put your two in charge of rescuing Waverly and instead I get a phone call."

Clint arched an eyebrow in confusion. "What?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "You humans and your perceived cleverness. Just get to the point."

Fury ignored Loki's insult. Instead, he held up his phone and waggled it before the man and the god. "I've got a phone call here. From Waverly."

In an instant, Loki and Clint both attempted to vault the table and reach for Fury's phone. The director, being a smart man, knew not to give the god of mischief his phone. He handed it to Clint which granted him a very unpleasant curse from Loki.

Clint put the phone to his ear. "Waverly?!"

On the other end of the line, Clint heard his sister reply. "Yes, you big dummy. Fury puts my boyfriend and my brother in charge of rescuing me and I have to break myself out? Gee, don't I feel the love."

Clint stammered out a lame excuse, but Waverly spoke above him. "Forget it. Just come get me. I'm at a motel in Knoxville. I already told Fury who's behind all this."

"Who is it?"

"The Other. Apparently our good friend Loki wasn't the only one who faked his death. Fury's going to prep the rest of the team. Can I trust you and Loki to not kill each other while you come get me?"

Clint spent the remainder of the phone call taking directions from Waverly. She ended the call and the archer handed the phone back to Fury.

"What?" Loki asked, clearly disgruntled. "She did not wish to speak to me."

Clint's face flushed the slightest shade of pink. Through clenched teeth, he said, "She told me to tell you she loves you." As soon as the words were forced from Clint's mouth, the archer went into a fake vomiting fit.

"Enough," Fury barked. "Go get Ice Hawk. I want you back here tonight so we can come up with a plan of attack."

* * *

Clint had thought nothing could have been more awkward than being comforted by Loki. He was hugely mistaken. Driving the god of mischief to Knoxville to retrieve his sister was beyond awkward. The ride started out in a thick silence that made both the archer and Loki vastly uncomfortable. Finally, just to break the deafening quiet, Clint struck up a conversation.

"So, you're not dead."

"Yes. And you're not intelligent."

Clint gripped the steering wheel of his Camero to prevent himself from reaching across the gear shift and strangling Loki. "Look, I told Waverly we wouldn't kill each other on the way to get her. So cut the insults before I have to shove my foot up your ass."

Loki snorted. "I would _love_ to see you try."

From the back seat, Thor leaned forward, thrusting his head between Clint and Loki. The god of thunder was crammed in the tiny bucket seat, his knees pulled up to his chest and his head brushing against the ceiling of the car. "Loki, we are on the same side. Can you not be nice?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "I am not nice, Thor. Do you not know me at all?"

"You are nice to Waverly." Clint pointed out.

Loki's pale cheeks turned bubblegum pink. The god of mischief became very interested in the view outside the passenger window.

Conversation was dropped after that. Clint pressed down harder on the gas pedal. The sooner they picked up Waverly, the better. He was starting to like Loki in the same weird way he like Tony's sarcasm.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: I know its been awhile but I haven't had time to sit down and update. I hope to update my other stories this weekend as well but we'll see. As usual, thanks for the reviews/favorites/etc. Ummmm... I think that's it... this story is actually getting close to the end already but I have an idea for another Loki/Waverly story so... yeah. I hope you like!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Thirteen:

"You helped her escape?!"

"Tyson, this is wrong and you know it."

Remmy was tied to a chair in the prison yard. His brother circled him, flames licking the elder twin's palms. Just as Waverly had leapt from the prison yard's wall, from the tower window, Tyson had turned in time to see her brown head vanish over the side and Remmy standing inside the wall. Tyson had erupted. Literally. The guard's tower was now engulfed in flames. Tyson had stormed down to the yard and within seconds, overpowered his younger brother and restrained him. It would have been easy for Tyson to take on Remmy; even if Waverly hadn't injected Remmy with the antiserum. When the twins had stumbled upon The Other, Tyson sacrificed much of his human soul to have his powers enhanced. He was clearly the stronger of the twins, the more vengeful, and the more cunning. The only piece of his human heart he had clung to was his love for Waverly. Ever since they had been kidnapped, all those years ago, Tyson had been searching for Waverly. His infatuation with his so called 'sister' was borderline insane. When Tyson learned of The Other's plan to destroy Loki and the Avengers, Waverly included, Tyson had almost walked out on the plan. But then, The Other had come up with a devious plan. If Tyson and Remmy could capture Waverly and force her to kill Loki, he would spare the pathetic human girl; otherwise, Tyson would be the one to kill her. Now, thanks to his idiot of a twin, it looked like Tyson would have to eliminate Ice Hawk or face The Other, which would likely end in his own death.

Tyson stopped his circling and stood in front of his brother, arms crossed. "This is not wrong. What they did to us was wrong!"

Remmy grit his teeth and tried for what felt like the millionth time to talk his brother out of this insane situation. "Tyson, listen to me. We were used, yeah. But now The Other is using you. You think that once he gets what he wants he'll let us live?"

Silence met Remmy's question. Remmy took that as a sign to continue.

"I know it's been hell for us. I was allergic to the serum and then when you burned down our foster home, but this is not the way to fix things. Once you get Waverly he'll just kill you both."

Tyson narrowed his eyes. "You've lost sight of our goal."

Remmy bit back a grunt of frustration. "I've got my sense back! He's just using us to get what he wants."

"You've gone weak and I no longer need your help." Tyson turned his back on his brother.

Remmy sighed and hung his head. Before he had a chance to look up, Tyson had spun back around. He was bathed in flames and with a spinning kick, he knocked Remmy, still tied to the chair, to the ground. Then, Tyson knelt down so he was inches from Remmy's face.

"I have to do this fast before the antiserum wares off." With a snap of his fingers, Tyson lit the prison yard on fire. "Your loss, Remmy."

* * *

Loki was smashed into the back seat with his adoptive brother. Waverly was riding shotgun in her brother's Camero and the archer was speeding through traffic to get back to base. While Clint drove, Waverly explained what had happened while she was captured. The longer she talked, the more Loki began to dislike these Remmy and Tyson characters. First, Waverly explained that Tyson and The Other had some sort of deal that would spare her. Then, she told them how Remmy had helped her to escape. These two mortals seemed far too interested in his girlfriend. Loki sat up suddenly, smashing his head into the car's ceiling. Had he just referred to Waverly as his girlfriend? Yes, he had. That was odd for two reasons. One, the god of mischief had picked up the Midgardian vernacular. On Asgard, women were never referred to as _girlfriends_; they were mates, lovers, or partners if you believe that women and men were created equally. Two, Loki had never referred to Waverly as his lover. He had come to terms with the feelings he had for her but he had never considered her his partner. Was he becoming soft?

"Loki, what's wrong?" Waverly's voice jolted the god's mind back to the car.

"Nothing." Loki was surprised to realize he meant it. Though it shocked him that he had called Waverly his girlfriend, he found that he was all right with that. After all, he loved her. Hadn't he thought of ruling with her by his side?

Waverly smiled. "You looked scared there, for a second."

"My dear, I do not get scared." Loki said. Before she could press him further (Loki was _not_ about to talk about his feelings with Thor and Clint around), he changed the subject back to the pyro twins. "So you say the one called Ash helped you to escape?"

Waverly nodded. "I don't think he's really into all this evil stuff. I think it's all Tyson. We should try and get Remmy on our side."

"I don't know, Wave," Clint said, "This could all be some kind of trick. When we get back to base, let Tony have a look at you. They could have injected you with some kind of tracker when they got you with the antiserum. Maybe that's why Remmy let you go."

Face twisted with disgust, Waverly objected. "I am not going to be examined by Stark. Can't he just look at this?" Waverly pulled out a folded hotel hand towel from her charred and ash covered sweatshirt. She unwrapped a vile with neon blue liquid inside. "This is what they injected me with. It's how I broke out of my cell. I stabbed Remmy with it, so only about half is left."

Still focusing on the busy road, Clint reached across and grabbed the syringe between his finger and thumb. He glanced away from the road and looked at the antiserum. "We could use this to stop them. Lace some darts with this and shoot 'em from afar. A lot easier than engaging them in combat."

"I think that's why Remmy let me take it. See, he's on our side."

"I do not now, Miss Barton," Thor said. He looked thoughtful with a hand placed against his chin; although that may have just been to prevent himself from kneeing his own face every time the car went over a bump. "Your brother is right. This seems strange that they would let you go so easily. And with their antiserum." Thor strained in the cramped seat to turn towards Loki. "Brother, you are the god of mischief. You have deceived many. What do you think?"

Loki's mouth titled into an arrogant smile. "Indeed I have Thor." Loki tapped his chin with a slender finger while he thought. "I do not know, though. It does seem Waverly's escape was far too easy."

"Too easy!?" Waverly interrupted. She held up her now scabbed palms. "This looks easy to you?"

Loki reached forward and grabbed her hands. His skin was cool and eased the throbbing pain that had been bothering Waverly ever since she had escaped the prison yard. "All I am saying is we have underestimated Cinder and Ash before. We cannot afford to do it again."

* * *

Finally, all of the Avengers plus a very not dead Loki were reunited back at base. Everyone was seated in the top secret debriefing room on the top floor of the hotel in downtown Nashville. As per usual, Fury was at the head of the table with Natasha sitting at one side and Hill on the other. Clint was seated next to Natasha and Waverly was on the archer's other side. Loki refused to sit down. Instead, he hovered protectively behind Waverly's chair, as if she might vanish at any second.

Waverly had to struggle to keep a smile off her face. Though their situation was bleak, Loki's concern for her was touching. The god rarely showed his affection for her when the Avengers were around. As Loki made for his fifth pace behind her, Waverly held out a hand to stop him. Her palms had been bandaged upon arriving back at base. She insisted against it; how could she fight with bandages wrapping her hands? She wouldn't be able to blast water or ice. Loki and Clint, though, were adamant that she got fixed up. The sheer shock of the two agreeing on something convinced Waverly to head to the team's medic.

Loki stopped his pacing and instead stood behind Waverly with his hands gripping the back of her chair. Fury had just begun the meeting.

"Waverly, report."

Waverly nodded. For the second time she recounted what had happened. When she finished, she placed the syringe on the table. Bruce instantly reached across and looked at it curiously. From the doctor's left, Steve eyed the vile nervously. Waverly realized then how complex this situation had become. The one thing that tied Bruce, Steve, and Waverly together was the fact that all three of them were attempts to create a super soldier. Only Steve was successful in the conventional sense of the word. Waverly and Bruce were both excellent Avengers, but they were both traumatized by what had happened to them; Steve wasn't. If there was a serum that could undo what had been done to them… well it was tempting. Waverly saw the longing in Bruce's eyes as he examined the blue liquid.

"It's not permanent," she explained. Bruce looked up and her. He understood her hidden message and set the vile down.

Steve instantly relaxed. Clearly, the thought of not being Captain America really frightened him.

It was Fury who picked up the syringe next. "So we could use this to subdue Cinder and Ash."

Waverly nodded.

"We could them apprehend them before their powers came back," Natasha concluded.

"That still leaves the problem of The Other." Hill pointed out.

Fury placed the syringe back on the table and rested his head in his hands, thinking. "What's our move?" The director glanced over at Loki, then at Thor.

"What do you want us to do?" Loki snapped. "Clearly we were not enough to defeat him last time."

"He will be weak though, Loki," Thor said. "It was your illusion that got blasted by the Tesseract's energy while The Other received the full blow."

Loki didn't think he could have been shocked twice in one day. He was very mistaken. The fact that Thor had pointed out something he had failed to notice only irritated Loki further. "Well I suppose you're correct there."

Thor smiled and a hint of arrogance shone through. Waverly rolled her eyes. For someone who proclaimed to the worlds that Thor was not his brother, Loki and Thor sure bantered like true siblings.

"Okay, goldilocks, so what's the plan then." Tony leaned against the end of the table opposite Fury. The vile had made its way around the table and now the genius was twiddling it through his fingers.

"Be careful with that," Fury snapped. Turning to Thor, he added, "Do you have a plan, Thor?"

"If The Other is weakened, which I firmly believe he is, our sheer force should be enough to overwhelm him."

"He has the fire twins." Steve said.

"That's what the antiserum is for," Loki jumped in. "We first apprehend the pyrokenetics, using the antiserum. Then, we go after The Other."

"I don't know about this," Clint ventured. "It still seems like this is a set up. Like they wanted Waverly to leave with the antiserum."

Fury sighed. "I agree. But right now, this is all we have. Stark, can you figured out the make-up of that stuff and reproduce it?"

"I can if the good doctor joins me," Tony responded. "I'm more of a physics person, not so much chemistry."

The SHIELD director rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just make enough of that so we have enough for some darts. The rest of you," Fury gestured around the table, "Suit up. As soon as the darts are ready, you're on."


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Sorry it's been so long but I've been busy with school. I'm not sure when I'll update again. Thanks for all the reviews and everything. Some of you wanted more Loki/Waverly fluff so here it is. Hope you like!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Fourteen:

Tony and Bruce had set up a make shift lab in the debriefing room to determine the molecular content of the antiserum Waverly had procured. Clint had joined them, ready to fill his arsenal of skin piercing darts. Meanwhile, Natasha and Steve had been dispatched to the prison where Waverly had been held to stake out the enemy. That left Thor, Waverly, and Loki to sit and wait 'til Fury called them to battle. Loki, disguising himself with his magic, escaped down into the lobby of the hotel before Thor could head him off for some "brother bonding." Loki's disguise? The hipster from the previous morning. It wasn't hard for Waverly to find the god of mischief seated in the hotel's restaurant, downing something likely containing alcohol at the bar. Waverly had changed into a spare set of clothes Natasha had brought, seeing as all Waverly had was her charred hoodie and ash covered jeans. Natasha was several inches taller than Waverly and a tad bit slimmer, so the black skinny jeans were uncomfortable tight around Waverly and the simple red V-neck was a little low cut for Waverly's liking. Oh well, it would have to do. As usual, Waverly finished off her outfit with her porous boots; at least those hadn't been damaged in her recent encounters with the twins.

Waverly slid onto the barstool next to hipster Loki. She snatched his glass of whatever it was and took a swig. Rum and Coke; Loki had good taste, though Waverly wondered how he knew what Coke was.

Loki frowned at her. "You could have asked. Not that I was enjoying it. Midgardian ale is terribly dilute compared to what we drink on Asgard."

Waverly set the glass down and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Very lady like. She smiled. "Maybe that's why I started to like you. I was drunk the whole time on Asgard."

Loki's frown deepened and Waverly giggled. "I'm kidding you idiot."

Sighing through his nose, Loki downed the remainder of his rum and Coke and set the glass back onto the bar counter. "You are infuriating."

Waverly elbowed Loki. "But you love me!"

"I question that choice every day of my existence."

As typical, this resulted in an eye roll from Waverly. The bar tender walked by and Waverly ordered a drink for herself and a refill for Loki. It was getting late into the evening now and the restaurant was buzzing with the after dinner crowd, out for a night of drinking and partying. Loki and Waverly were at the edge of the bar, keeping quietly to themselves. For Waverly, this scene reminded her all too well of the nights she would spend in Tarra's bar and try to drink away the pain of Loki's death. Only now, Loki was here; alive and well and beside her. Waverly turned to him and found that he had propped his head up in his hand, his elbow resting on the counter. His deep green eyes looked intently at Waverly, but his gaze was soft, as if he was studying her.

"What?" She asked.

"I am just wondering what you are thinking. You look…" Loki furrowed his brow as he searched for the word. "Troubled. Did the twins hurt you?"

Waverly closed her eyes and sighed. "No, Loki. I was just…" She dropped her head into her hand and sighed again. "I thought you were gone." Waverly's voice was low.

Loki shifted on his stool. He was beginning to feel vastly uncomfortable. He had learned a long time ago he couldn't use his magic on Waverly, nor could he play with her emotions, without feeling extremely guilty. Loki gingerly draped his arm around Waverly's shoulders and with a flick of his opposite hand, a spell moved her barstool closer to his without the surrounding mortals noticing. Waverly looked up at the god again, mildly surprised. Loki's expression was soft. Waverly had only seen him look like this once before; after she had bandaged his injured hand back in his cell on Asgard and he had kissed her.

"Waverly, I am so deeply sorry to have hurt you." Loki leaned towards the woman and the two rested their foreheads against each other. "Please forgive me."

Waverly couldn't help but smile. Her stomach wiggled with pleasure as it always did whenever Loki became soft around her. She laced her fingers in between his. "I forgive you."

Next to her, Loki smiled ever so slightly. He gripped her fingers tighter, letting the warmth she always brought to his skin spread from his hands and into his chest. He turned his head ever so slightly so that he could bury his nose in her hair. She smelled like the remnants of a fire, but underneath that, she smelled like water lilies. Loki wasn't quite sure how he knew what the Midgardian flower smelled like, but he knew it was a smell he associated with Waverly.

Waverly slipped her head out from underneath Loki's chin and tilted her face up to kiss the god of mischief. Just before her lips met his, Clint appeared next to them.

"I figured you'd be here. Good lord," he said with exasperation, "Are you trying to make everybody in here puke?"

Waverly turned and scowled at her brother. Why did older brothers have to ruin everything? "What do you want, Clint?"

Clint held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Don't bite my head off. It's time to go. Tony and Bruce finished the antiserum. You can swap spit with Loki later."

Waverly punched Clint in the arm. "Maybe you wouldn't be so annoying if you just made out with Natasha already." Waverly slipped off her barstool and stalked out of the restaurant.

Loki sneered. "She's got a point." He patted Clint on the shoulder mockingly and then followed Waverly.

* * *

The team was assembled outside the main gate that opened to the old dirt road that serviced the prison. Night had fallen and the only light guiding the team was the eerie neon glow of the antiserum in Clint's darts. The plan was that the two spies would slip into the building, locate the enemy, and then Clint would hit them with the darts. Then the rest of the team would join them, restrain the twins, and then face The Other. Once Cinder and Ash had been restrained, Waverly was to guard them, armed with Clint's dart gun, and keep them subdued. Waverly was not at all happy with this. She wanted to be with the rest of the team. Loki and Clint were adamant that she stay behind and play baby sitter. Her hands were still bandaged so she wouldn't be much good in a fight.

Looking at the prison in the distance, Waverly could tell it had changed since earlier that day. The watch tower was a smoldering pile of rubble. Waverly had a bad feeling.

She didn't get time to voice her concerns. Clint silently slid the gate open and then he and Natasha disappeared in the dark. The rest of the team waited in silence until one of the assassins came over the radio to initiate part two of the plan.

Far too soon, Clint's voice came over the team's earpieces. "Uh, Waverly, I think you should see this."

Waverly put her hand to her ear, activating the microphone that would pick up her voice and transmit it to Clint. "See what?"

"Just come in here. In the prison yard."

"I will go with you." Loki said.

Waverly nodded. She slowly pushed the gate open and headed toward the prison yard. Loki followed her closely. Waverly was glad he had decided to go with her. Something in Clint's voice told her she wasn't going to like whatever it was she was about to see.

Waverly met up with Clint and Natasha. They were standing in the middle of the prison yard where Waverly had met with Remmy before he helped her to escape. The air was thick with the smell of smoke and Waverly felt a blanket of ash under her feet. Not too far from them were the ruins of the watch tower. There was something behind Clint and Natasha but Waverly couldn't see what it was.

"What is it?"

Clint stepped aside and nodded at whatever was behind him. Waverly took a step closer and bent down to get a better look. She gasped and fell backward, tumbling into Loki's legs. What she saw made her stomach churn. It was Remmy, at least it was his body. He was burned severely and tied to the burned remains of chair. "Oh my god."

Loki bent down and helped pull Waverly to her feet. She swayed on the spot, tears filling her eyes. Loki steadied her.

"It's Remmy." Waverly's voice was hoarse. "He's… he's dead."

"What happened to him?" Loki asked. Even he was disgusted by the way Remmy appeared to have died, and that was saying something.

"Tyson." Waverly said. "It was Tyson. He killed Remmy because he helped me escape."

Clint and Natasha exchanged a glance. "Well," Natasha said, "I guess we're just after Cinder then."

Waverly nodded. "I can't believe he killed his own brother. His twin."

Loki pulled Waverly closer to him. He didn't like the fact that Remmy's death disturbed her so (Loki was a tad jealous) but he also didn't like Waverly to be in pain. "The Other poison's the minds of his minions. He gets them drunk on power."

"Is that what happened to you?" Clint asked.

Loki shot the archer a glare.

"That's for the comment about…" Clint glanced at Natasha. "Never mind. You two get back to the others. We'll radio you when we find Cinder."

* * *

Loki and Waverly were creeping through the dark back to the rest of the team. Waverly was still shaken up about seeing Remmy. Loki walked with an arm around Waverly. "Did you have feelings for him?"

Waverly looked up at Loki. "Did I… what?"

"Did you have feelings for Ash, I mean Remmy?"

"No." Waverly held her head in her hand. "I was only with them for a few years at the orphanage. I don't really remember them. They were like brothers to me. I just… I can't believe Tyson would do that." Waverly was struggling to hold the tears back.

Loki really didn't know what to do. He simply allowed Waverly to lean into him and cry. They had reached the rest of the team. "What was that all about?" Tony asked. Over his Iron Man armor he wore a trench coat to mask the glow of his arc reactor. Next to him, Bruce crouched in his human form; the Hulk wasn't built for stealth. Thor and Steve also looked curious.

Waverly took a breath and looked at Loki. "I can't."

Loki nodded. "They found the body of the one called Ash. It appears they pyrokinetics have turned on each other. Barton and Romanoff are looking for Cinder."

Tony whistled. "Make's our job easier."

Waverly shuddered. Loki scowled at the billionaire and Bruce shook his head.

"Stark, do you have no tact?" Steve asked.

"You want a tack? What for Rogers?"

Steve sighed. "Just shut up Stark and wait for the signal."

* * *

"You've eliminated the traitor?"

"Yes." Tyson stood in the prison cafeteria, looking out at the prison yard. Two dark shapes were moving across the yard heading towards him and The Other. They had just passed his brother's body. Waverly was there a few minutes ago, Tyson could feel it. She had looked at Remmy before leaving the yard with Loki. Tyson had no idea it was Loki, but The Other said he sensed the god of mischief's presence.

"Our enemies are walking into our grasp. We will soon have our revenge."


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Sooo... I'm getting close to the end of the story... but I'm not sure how I want to end it... but anyways, thanks for the reviews, favorites, and follows. I hope you enjoy.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Fifteen:

Clint didn't like it. This whole situation felt like a setup, just like the abandoned warehouse. Still, they did have one advantage. The antiserum. Assuming it worked on Cinder. Which it should. Clint held his dart gun a little tighter as he slunk through the darkness with Natasha at his side. They were perfect partners. Neither of them made a sound. They were practically invisible. But Clint had a feeling their enemies knew they were there. They had left Ash's body as a sign for Waverly.

The prison had been abandoned for several years, the state having run out of funds to support such a large structure. Plaster fell in chunks from the ceiling and the floor was covered in a thick layer of dirt and grime. Natasha led the way, her Widow's Bite glowing ever so lightly on her wrists. Clint kept his dart gun aimed over her shoulder, ready to fire the second they came upon Cinder. Simultaneously, the archer's ears were pricked for any sound coming from behind them; his code name may be Hawkeye, but Clint had superb hearing as well. No one snuck up on him. The whole place smelled like a bonfire, no doubt due to Cinder. As the smell became stronger, Clint knew they must be getting close to their target.

Rounding a corner, Natasha stopped and flattened herself against the wall. Clint did the same, following her gaze. This part of the prison was obviously not meant to hold criminals. The painting on the walls was a lot more pleasant and the floor was smooth tile, not concrete. At least, the place had been nice; before it was shut down. They must be in the warden's quarters. A room at the end of the hall glowed an eerie orange. Clint knew Cinder would be waiting for them in there. Clint wondered if The Other was with him.

Silently, Natasha slid a hand up to her ear. She presses down the button that opened the line of communication back to the rest of the team. In a voice lower than a whisper, she said. "Got 'em. Warden's quarters."

* * *

The message was successfully relayed back to the team. Tony had Jarvis hack into the city's police department mainframe which provided them with a blueprint of the prison. Tony, still covered in the trench coat so that the arc reactor wouldn't give him away, led the team to Natasha and Clint's location.

The team moved as silently as possible, but it was difficult what with Iron Man's metallic 'clanks' with every step. Tony was in the lead, Steve brought up the rear. Loki walked beside Waverly, who was so tense, even Loki could feel it.

"Are you going to be able to do this?" Loki asked quietly.

Waverly looked up at him. Loki could see the conflict raging in her mind through her luminous eyes. Cinder had been her friend. He had been her family. So had Ash. Now, Ash was dead; killed by his own brother. Even though Loki had tried to kill Thor on several occasions, he had never actually done it. Loki strongly disliked his adoptive older brother, but if the god of mischief was honest with himself, he never pictured actually going through with Thor's murder. Loki may be evil, but there were just some things that were unheard of. Banishing Thor, taking his powers away as Odin had done, those things Loki would be willing to do. But somehow, he knew no matter how badly he wanted to rule, killing Thor would cause him to go mad.

"You do not have to face him." Loki continued. "If it is too… painful."

Waverly shook her head. "No. I'll be all right." She sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

Loki nodded. "Very well. Stay by my side."

* * *

Cinder paced back and forth in front of the fire that his powers were maintaining. Cinder huffed in irritation and the flames arched a little higher.

Sitting in a chair behind what used to be the warden's desk was The Other. He rolled his eyes dramatically. Humans were such infuriating creatures. They were so emotional. He couldn't wait to be over with this useless mortal so he could kill him along with Loki and the Avengers.

Cinder stopped his pacing and stood before The Other. He spread his hands on the desk, igniting the desk top. "I am tired of waiting. Let me go and finish them off. I want the girl."

"You will wait until they walk into our grasp." The Other ordered. "Her brother is outside right now. Watching us. They will be here soon."

The truth was, The Other wasn't willing to send Cinder out on his own to face the Avengers. His mind was too weak and damaged from all the years he had been used as a military experiment. Plus, The Other's influence over Cinder took what little sanity the human had left and crumbled it to pieces. But still, this human was dangerous. He was too unpredictable. If he went out to face the Avengers on his own, that pathetic human wretch could turn him to the side of good. Like she had done with that miserable failure Loki. The Other really didn't care what became of Cinder; after all he planned to kill him once his usefulness was over. But for right now, The Other needed him. The Other was still weak from his last battle with Loki. The energy the Tesseract had produced left The Other weak and with hardly any power. The human, Cinder, The Other used him as a sort of channel. Using the mortal's powers granted to him by Project X as a vessel for his own powers. Once The Other had defeated his enemies, Cinder would be useless and he could finally be rid of the pathetic human whom he hated so much. The vile moron. The Other specifically chose Cinder and Ash for his weapons because they pyrokenetics and were twins; easy for him to control. And then the fool Cinder had to go and kill Ash in a fit of rage. If The Other had had his way, he would have like both brothers to be alive for this final battle. But, instead, he had to pretend he was okay with Cinder killing Ash. If the feeble minded mortal realized he was being used as a pawn, The Other's chance at defeating Loki would be gone. The Other hated it, but for now, he needed this mortal.

* * *

In no time at all, the rest of the group had met up with Clint and Natasha. Silently, the two assassins indicated Cinder's location and relayed the plan with a few simple hand motions. Clint was going to sneak up to the door with Natasha at his back for cover. He'd neutralize the threat with his darts, and then the rest of the team would head in to apprehend him and interrogate him as to The Other's whereabouts.

Before he set off, Waverly reached out and gave Clint's hand a squeeze. She couldn't lose another brother to this fiery madness. Waverly watched Clint slip down the hallway, Natasha at his heels. Waverly had to admit that she did try to forget about Tyson and Remmy, and she had for quite some time. She had to admit that she hadn't known them long and she was only a child when she'd known them. But something had happened to her seeing Remmy's dead body. His lifeless eyes, pale face. It was as if innocence itself had died with Remmy. Waverly knew that Remmy wasn't into all this evilness like Tyson was. Something weird was going on here. The Other must have been controlling the twins, but Remmy was able to fight it. That's why he helped her escape.

Still though, the fact that Tyson was the one who killed Remmy made Waverly sick. They were brothers. Twins. They had that special bond only siblings could have. How could Tyson allow himself to be used to kill Remmy? Waverly thought back to when Clint was controlled by Loki. She had always thought that if she had come face to face with mind-controlled Clint, the archer wouldn't have been able to harm her, due to the fact that they were siblings, albeit adopted. Waverly couldn't help but glance sideways at Loki. Would his power really have been enough to make Clint forget that she was his sister and that he loved her? Would it have been enough to convince the archer to kill her? Is that what happened to Tyson? Would he kill her too? Waverly had to fight down a wave of nausea. She didn't have time to think about all of that right now. They had a job to do. Apprehend Tyson… no Cinder. It was easier to refer to him as Cinder now. They had to apprehend Cinder, not kill. Then they'd deal with The Other. After that, Waverly would be able to figure out Cinder's real nature. Maybe he would simply return to normal like Clint had.

Clint had reached the doorway. From where Waverly was standing, she couldn't see Cinder in the room, but she knew Clint had him in his sights. She recognized the look of calculated concentration her brother always got when he was locked on a target. They didn't call him Hawkeye for nothing. Clint pulled the trigger on the dart gun. Silently, the dart sped from the barrel and into the room. That's when the wall of fire crashed through the doorway, and sent Clint and Natasha flying into the wall.

Waverly sprang into action. She sent a jet of water from each palm, engulfing both Clint and Natasha, protecting them from most of the fire. With a hiss, the two elements canceled each other out and a thick layer of steam rose to the ceiling. The dart had been incinerated in the blast, and standing unharmed in the doorway was Cinder.

He was smiling evilly but he looked terrible. His skin was pale and his cheeks sunken in. Dark rings were under his eyes. But still, his laugh was as creepy and terrible as it had been in the warehouse. "Waverly. So good to see you. I'm sorry Remmy won't be able to join us."

That hit Waverly hard. She did a spinning kick, firing a stream of water at Cinder. It caught him by surprise and she managed to freeze the water around his hands, effectively restraining him.

"Clint, shoot him!" Waverly yelled.

Clint was crouched on the floor. His hands had gotten burned by the wave of fire but he grit his teeth against the pain, reloaded the dart gun, and shot at Cinder.

Cinder ignited his hands underneath the coating of ice. The ice exploded from his hands and fire shot from his palms. He flung his arm out, sending a jet of fire to incinerate the dart that was coming towards him. Cinder wasn't fast enough. The dart pierced his neck, just above the collar of his flame resistant jumpsuit. His hands flew to his neck and he ripped the dart out. But it was too late. The antiserum was already in his bloodstream. Clint had pierced Cinder right in the jugular vein. Cinder shot Waverly and evil look before weakness overcame him and he slumped to the ground. Behind him, the fire in the warden's office went out.

Waverly looked from Cinder to Clint. "Why'd he pass out? I didn't."

Tony chuckled. "I added a little something to the serum to knock him out. Thought he be much less annoying unconscious."

Natasha sighed through her nose. "How are we supposed to interrogate him about The Other now?"

Tony's brow furrowed. "Oh. Guess I forgot about that."

"Some genius," Loki smirked.

"Now how are we going to find him?" Thor questioned.

A voice came from the warden's office. "How about you ask him yourself?"


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: So, I've figured out what I want to do with the rest of this story... so a few more chapters. I'm on spring break so hopefully I'll be able to update again soon and for those who read my Capt. America fic, hopefully I can start the sequel to that too. Um... I think that's it. Thanks for all the reviews and everything! I hope you enjoy.**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Sixteen:

Waverly felt her stomach drop. Turning back to the doorway where Tyson lay unconscious, Waverly saw The Other towering over him. He was as terrifying as she remembered, if not worse. His yellow snake like eyes burned with hatred. One of them was clouded over, blinded by the energy blast of the Tesseract. Across his grayish purple skin were what looked like burn marks and scars. He was wearing the same gold and black armor that he had been last time Waverly had seen him. Next to her, Waverly felt Loki tense up, ready for a fight.

But The Other didn't look like he was about to start a fight. His lips were curled in an evil smile and his gaze shifted around the group circling him. He laughed and Waverly had to suppress a shiver.

"Bravo. I must say, well done. You've walked right into my clutches."

"I believe," Thor said, "You are too weak to take on all of us. Not without the aid of your human friend."

The Other's grin twisted even more. "Oh, how very right you are there. But I still retain some of my more basic powers. I simply require this human to kill you all."

"And then what?" Loki drawled. "You'll destroy Midgard? Because that worked out so well the first time."

"That was your failure, Loki," The Other sneered. "But yes. Destroying the realm of the humans is my master's ultimate goal. He merely sent me here first so that I could have the pleasure of defeating you myself."

"Then what's he for?" Waverly asked, nodding towards Tyson. She tried to keep her vice steady but failed.

The Other laughed. "Haven't you been listening little human girl? I'm using him to kill you."

"But why him?"

The Other looked from Waverly to Loki, sizing them up like prey. "I knew if I used him, I could draw you in. That was the only way to successfully draw in both the Avengers and Loki so that I could eliminate you all."

"Yeah, well, too bad that failed." Tony stepped forward, an arm raised. On his metal incased hand, his palm glowed blue, preparing to fire a repulsor beam.

Before anyone could even blink, The Other swept his black cloak around his shoulders, covering both himself and Tyson. Tony's beam hit the cloak and backfired, sending the Avengers, Loki, and Waverly crashing into various walls. A thick cloud of smoke filled the hallway. When it cleared and everyone was struggling back to their feet, coughing the poisonous air from their lungs, The Other and Cinder were both gone.

"Damn," Clint said.

"Shoulda taken him out the moment we heard his voice," Steve said with frustration.

"The Other is your typical egomaniac. He would have engaged you in a melodramatic speech anyway. Typical villain." Loki said.

"Oh, like you?" Tony said. "I remember having a similar conversation with you at my bar."

Loki rolled his eyes.

"All right," Natasha said, bringing everyone's focus back on the mission. "Now what? We have to track them down again before they cause any more damage."

"Well aren't you lucky I thought ahead." Bruce had a slightly smug smile on his face. "Tony wasn't the only one to add something to the antiserum. I added a radioactive tracker. Nothing major. Just in case he got away."

"Brilliant thinking!" Thor exclaimed. He clapped Bruce on the back, knocking the poor doctor to the floor.

"Well, let's go. Before Tyson comes to." Waverly urged.

Bruce picked himself up off the floor and brushed the dirt off his green button down shirt. "Just give me a second." He pulled his smartphone out of his pocket. After furiously sliding his thumb across the screen, he must have finally reached the screen he needed because he took off down the hall. "They didn't go far, come on."

* * *

A minor setback. But he knew his enemies would be on his tail; he anticipated it. That's why he hadn't traveled far. A few miles down the old road the led to the prison, an oil refinery sprawled across the Tennessee plains, spilling pollution into the air. The factory was crawling with workers and security, but The Other had found a small service building at the edge of the compound that was rarely used. He would wait there until his human servant regained consciousness. By then, surely the Avengers and Loki would have arrived. Then, finally, The Other could be rid of them. And what better place for his little pyro puppet to fight them than in an oil yard? Plenty of fuel for the fire.

The Other leaned against the concrete wall and dropped Tyson unceremoniously at his feet. Just that small matter of teleporting himself and the human caused him a great deal of pain. He was weak. The Other couldn't wait for this to be over. He'd rid Earth of the Avengers, defeat Loki who had failed him, and then he could return to his master. His master would heal him, restore his powers. And then together, they would destroy the Earth and be rid of pesky humans forever.

But now, The Other closed his eyes and fought the pain in his body. He would need a clear head when his enemies arrived so that he could properly control Tyson.

The pathetic human was stirring at his feet, already waking. The Other doubted the antiserum had worked its way through the human's system so quickly. He may be stirring, but that didn't mean his powers were back yet.

"Get up you fool." The Other barked.

Tyson moaned and lifted himself to his hands and knees. "What happened?"

"You let your guard down for a second and those irritating pests incapacitated you."

Tyson shook his head. He leaned back on his feet and looked up at The Other. "You… you're using me."

The Other couldn't help the surprise registering on his face. The antiserum had not only temporarily rid the human of his powers, but it also loosened The Other's control on his mind. No matter. The human couldn't go anyway and even weakened, The Other was still ten times stronger than he was. The Other would simply wait out the antiserum's effect and then Tyson would be back under his power, ready to kill Loki and the Avengers.

"Yes, I am controlling you, you pathetic creature. You will kill my enemies as planned and then I will no longer have use for you."

Tyson's eyes went in and out of focus and he held his head in his hands. "You made me kill my brother."

The Other groaned. "I preferred when you were unconscious."

"And you want me to kill Waverly too!"

"As for your brother, you mind was already twisted before I exerted my power over you. The death of your brother is solely your responsibility. I would have killed him anyway. And for the girl, yes. You are to kill her and her allies. Particularly that traitor Loki."

Tyson rocked back and forth on his feet. For the first time in a long time, his head felt clear. He remembered everything he had done in the recent past, but it was as if he was watching from another body. He had killed people, hundreds of people. He leveled three cities with his pyrokenetics. He kidnapped Waverly, whom he didn't even know was still alive. And he did all this because he was under the control of whatever this 'Other' was. He had been used, taken advantage of, just like all those years ago when Project X kidnapped him. Tyson anger and rage had been used against him. He killed the only person in the world he trusted, his brother, Remmy. Not only that, but he was supposed to kill Waverly and her friends. "You're a monster."

The Other laughed. "So it may be, but you will fulfill your purpose."

"No." Tyson's eyes were wide and he looked wildly around the room. His voice was high and panicked when he spoke again. "No. I won't do this anymore. I won't be part of it."

The Other knew he was rapidly losing control of the situation. He needed to get this human under control before the idiot did something ridiculous. The Other reached out and grabbed Tyson by the collar of his fireproof suit. "You will obey me, human."

Tyson pulled a knife from his pocket. "No. No, I won't. I won't let you use me." Tyson's voice was desperate. He squirmed in The Other's grasp.

The Other realized what was happening a moment too late. He watched as his out of control puppet reached up with the knife and sliced it across his own neck. The human's warm blood poured out of the wound and soaked The Other's hand. The Other flung the human across the room with an angry growl. He was breathing heavy, barely containing his rage. The Other shook his hand, riding his flesh of the human's blood. He couldn't return to his master now, not after failing to kill Loki for a second time. He needed a new plan. Still seething, The Other mustered up what little energy he had left, enough to teleport him to New York, and with a flash of light and a puff of smoke, he was gone.

* * *

Loki walked at Waverly's side as they followed Dr. Banner down the dirt road. Clint was armed with his dart gun, flanking Banner's left; Natasha was at his right, relaying their current situation to Fury. Thor, Steve, and Stark followed closely behind. Waverly was bringing up the rear and seeing as she was the only on in the group… well, the only one on this entire planet that he could stand, Loki had fallen in step beside her.

"So," Waverly said quietly, "He wants to kill us and they destroy Earth."

Loki nodded.

"Who's his master, do you know?"

Loki shook his head. "As I've told you before, I've never met him. I know he is stronger than The Other, possible the strongest being in the universe. He doesn't belong to any of the known realms. That is all I know."

"So then even if we find Tyson and The Other, we'll still have this other dude to deal with?" Waverly asked.

Loki heard the fear in her voice. He slipped his hand into hers. "My darling, once this mess with The Other is over, I plan on teleporting us somewhere far away where no one will ever find us." Loki smiled slyly down at Waverly.

Waverly smiled at the thought, but shook her head. "We can't just leave and let them deal with this guy alone."

"So, what I'm hearing is, if it wasn't for The Other's master, you'd be willing to travel to the far reaches of the universe with me?"

As per usual, Waverly rolled her eyes, but in the gray darkness of early morning, Loki saw her blush. "That's not what I said, Loki."

"Yes, but that is what I heard."

"You hear what you want to hear," Waverly retorted.

In front of them, Banner stopped. "Up ahead. They're in the oil refinery. At least Cinder is."

"So, what's the plan?" Tony asked. "I hardly think they're going to let us waltz on in there. Saying we're looking for a madman and his alien commander will likely cause a panic."

Bruce looked down at his phone again. "He's in a building at the edge of the compound. We could just break through the fence. It doesn't look like that area's used much."

"Well, let's go." Clint said. "I'm getting sick of this little fire weasel."

Bruce led the way around the edge of the refinery. Thankfully, due to the fact that it was ridiculously early in the morning, not many workers were out and about and the few security agents present were at the main entrance. It was easy enough for the team to slip around the edge of the compound to the disused back corner where an old maintenance building stood, forgotten. The fence keeping them out of the refinery was a simple chain link; ten feet tall, topped with a spiral of barbed wire. Hardly a challenge for the Avengers. Tony activated a laser on his suit and silently cut a clean hole in the fence. The team, plus Loki, filed through, assembling outside the building Bruce had led them too.

"He's in there."

There was a thick padlock on the steel door. Again, an easy fix. Thor strode forward, gripped the metal in his hand, and ripped it from the door. Without subtlety, he then kicked the door in and the team stormed into the building.

The building was quiet and empty, save for the tools and cleaning supplies needed to maintain the refinery. The team peered around the dark before rounding on Bruce.

"You said he was here," Natasha said. "This place is deserted."

Bruce scratched his head and look down at his phone in confusion. "I don't get it. He should be here."

"Something's not right," Tony agreed with the doctor.

"I smell… blood." Clint turned around and took another look through the dark.

Then, Waverly saw him, crumpled in a heap, soaked with his own blood. "Oh!" She gasped and dropped to her knees. "He's dead."

Loki followed her gaze and saw the body of Cinder lifeless on the ground. A glistening cut ran across the human's throat, indicating what had killed him. "He killed himself."

"What? Why do you say that?" Waverly asked.

Loki shrugged. "The Other needed him. He wouldn't have disposed of him until he had used him to defeat us."

Natasha nodded. "It doesn't make sense that The Other would kill him now."

Waverly tore her eyes from Tyson, struggling to keep the nausea from her stomach. "But… why kill himself?"

Bruce put a hand to his chin in thought. "Waverly, you said the brother helped you to escape?"

Waverly nodded.

Bruce continued. "And we all believe The Other was controlling the twins."

More nods.

"I think it quite possible the antiserum cleared Cinder's head enough to allow him to think clearly. He likely killed himself to stop further violence."

Waverly felt numb. She couldn't deal with all this mind control and violence and madness. Remmy had been murdered by Tyson, Tyson killed himself, The Other was out there somewhere, and they had the matter of Earth's impending doom to deal with.

Thor voiced the question they were all thinking. "So, where is The Other now?"

All eyes fell on Loki. After all, he had worked with The Other before. Out of everyone present, Loki knew The Other the best and would be able to determine his next actions more accurately than anyone else.

"I don't believe he has returned to his master. He has not yet succeeded in killing us. My best guess is that he is back in hiding somewhere, devising a new plan to take us out. Earth will be spared so long as we remain alive. He wants to destroy us first. His vengeance fuels his motives." Loki explained.

"What's our next move?" Steve asked.

"Can we track The Other?" Natasha asked.

Tony shrugged. "We could try, but last time we tracked him, he had the Tesseract, so we just ran a scan for gamma radiation. I'm not sure how we'd find him this time."

"I propose we head back to your headquarters and prepare ourselves for when The Other makes his next appearance." Loki suggested.

"What do you mean 'we'?" Clint asked. "Last I checked, you're on SHIELD's most wanted list."

"Do you want my help defending your pathetic planet or not?" Loki snapped back.

Waverly was having trouble dealing with everything that had happened in the last few hours. She was not about to listen to her brother and her boyfriend fight for what must be the millionth time. "Just shut up, both of you. Loki is right. We should head back to the tower and prepare ourselves."

"The director is not about to let Loki back in our headquarters," Natasha pointed out. "He can't be trusted."

"I will take that as a compliment, Miss Romanoff."

Waverly groaned. "Loki, stow it for like five seconds. Let's just get back to the hotel, tell Fury what happened and plan our next move from there."

The group conceded to this plan, so Clint and Natasha led the way back to the hotel. The sun was beginning to spill over the horizon. Everyone was tired and irritated after a night out on a mission that they had failed. Sure, Cinder and Ash were both dead; that threat was eliminated, but The Other was still out there, fueled by vengeance, plotting to kill them all before he and his master unleashed their wrath on the world.


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: So, this is a filler chapter so it's kinda boring. The next few chapters will be Loki and Waverly fluff and whatnot. Thanks for the reviews, favorites, and follows. Enjoy!**

**I own nothing.**

Chapter Seventeen:

Needless to say, the group was exhausted. By the time they had made their way back to the temporary SHEILD base at the Holiday Inn in Nashville, it was nearing six in the morning. Waverly couldn't even remember when she had last gotten some sleep. As she followed Clint to the makeshift debriefing room, her eyelids dropped and she gave a monstrous yawn. She wasn't the only one tired. Clint was dragging his feet with every step, Tony had dark circles under his eyes, and Bruce began nodding off in the elevator.

Fury was waiting for them at the head of the table. Everyone took their seats, Loki still standing protectively behind Waverly's chair. "Well, report."

Natasha began the report. She explained how she had Clint had stumbled across Ash's dead body. From there, Clint went on to describe how they attacked Cinder. Loki jumped in to explain their conversation with The Other and then Bruce finished off by telling Fury how The Other escaped with Cinder but they tracked him down.

In a flat voice, Waverly added, "We found Tyson. Dead. We think he killed himself."

Fury sat in silence for a moment, thinking over the recent turn of events. Finally, he turned to Thor, "And you believe that The Other's master will hold off on attacking Earth until The Other finishes you off?"

"That is what Loki believes," Thor answered.

Fury turned to Loki. "And why, pray tell, should we listen to anything Loki says? The number of transgressions he has committed against us far outweigh the very small list of reasons we have to trust him."

Waverly felt Loki tense up behind her. His hands gripped the back of her chair so hard that his knuckles turned white. The god was struggling to maintain calm.

"If I had wanted to assist The Other and his master in destroying Midgard, why would I have even made myself known to you?!"

Waverly pushed her chair back, causing Loki to take a step backward. Waverly stood and placed her palms on the table, leaning in towards Fury. "Look, I know this is Loki and I know none of you trust him, but Thor thinks he's right. I think he's right. If this master dude wanted to destroy Earth so badly, he would have attacked already. He's allowing The Other to kill us first. If we're alive, the Earth won't be in any danger."

Fury narrowed his eye and surveyed Waverly, taking in her words. "Then what, Agent Barton, to you propose we do?"

Waverly huffed and straightened up. Turning to Thor, she said, "You believe he's still weak?"

Thor nodded.

Loki added, "If he felt he could have taken us, he would have done so in the prison, or back where we found Cinder."

"Then, I think we need we need to prepare ourselves. Go back to the tower. Work on tracking him down, like Loki said." Waverly plopped back down in her seat. "The Other is busy forming a new plan. We should do the same so we're ready for him. We can start working on ways to defend against his master, too."

The table remained silent.

Waverly waved her arms around the table. "Well? Does anyone have any better ideas?"

"I believe Lady Barton's plan is sound," Thor broke the silence. "We should return to Avengers Tower immediately."

"I agree," Bruce added.

Steve and Clint also nodded in agreement, while Tony, stifling a yawn, mumbled something about whatever allowed him to go to sleep sooner. Natasha was the only one who hesitated. She turned to Fury who voiced her concerns.

"And what about Loki, Waverly?" Fury asked.

"He's stayed with us before," Waverly answered. "Let him stay again. We're probably going to need his help with The Other. He's the only one here who knows how he operates."

"I hardly think allowing our most wanted criminal free reign of our tower is a good idea," Fury responded.

Waverly opened her mouth to argue, but it was Thor who spoke up first.

"If I may, Director Fury, I think I have a solution."

Both Waverly and Fury turned to look expectantly at Thor. Even Loki turned to his brother with a look of curiosity.

"Loki appears to behave himself when he is around Miss Barton. He has shown us as much in the past."

"Yeah, except for when he faked his death. No doubt to escape punishment." Fury pointed out.

Thor sighed. "True, but here's is my solution. You keep Loki under house arrest in Miss Barton's room. He may only leave when his knowledge of The Other is required for preparations."

Loki looked as if he was about to protest this arrangement; not so much the arrangement, just the fact that it was Thor dictating this plan. Before he could say anything, Waverly kicked him in the shin underneath her chair. The message was clear. _Shut up, he's arguing _for_ you!_

Fury was thinking this over. He had a hand on his chin and he looked thoughtfully from Thor, to Waverly, and then finally his one-eyed gaze rested on Loki. "At the current point in time, I must agree that we may need Loki's assistance. Thor, I think the terms of your arrangement are quite fair, provided I make a few adjustments."

The rest of the table had since lost interest, their exhaustion winning them over. Tony's head was on the table top and he was snoring ever so slightly. Clint and Bruce both had their heads propped up on their arms, struggling to keep their eyes open. Natasha and Steve were trying to pay attention, but it was clear the current conversation was between Fury, Thor, Loki, and Waverly.

"What would be the adjustments, director?" Thor asked.

"Loki will remain under house arrest in Barton's quarters. I will have an agent stationed outside her door at all times. Loki may only leave the room with supervision and only when his input is needed. His scepter will remain locked in our weapon's vault until he is needed in battle." Fury rounded off his conditions by looking pointedly at Loki. "And then, when this is over, Loki will stand a trial that he has been avoiding for far too long."

Loki narrowed his emerald green eyes, but did not argue. It would be some time before The Other could strike again, and that gave Loki plenty of time to figure out how to worm his way from Fury's grasp.

With the matter of what to do with Loki solved, Fury dismissed the group.

* * *

The temporary SHIELD headquarters had been dismantled. Laptops were packed away, Fury's files secured in a metal case, and all signs of the agency's presence at the Holiday Inn erased. Clint and Natasha had packed the trunk of Clint's car with equipment, and were getting ready to head back to New York. Meanwhile, Fury was boarding his personal SHIELD jet, along with Steve, Bruce, and the remainder of the SHIELD agents. Tony would be flying back to Avengers Tower in his Iron Man suit. That left Loki, Waverly, and Thor to book a flight on a normal flight with a normal airline. Fury was not about to permit Loki on his personal jet. He wasn't about to let the god teleport himself and Waverly back to the tower. The second Loki had begrudgingly agreed to Fury's terms, he had been forced to relinquish his weapon.

A black limo with tinted windows came to pick up Fury and the others that would be traveling on the director's jet to take them to the high security runway reserved for military and government uses at the local airport. Before Fury got into the car, he took one last look at Loki, Waverly, and Thor.

"One false step, our bargain is over. I'll lock you up without a second thought."

Loki resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the director. "Of course, director."

Fury shut the door to the limo and the vehicle took off. Clint followed in his Camero, heading towards the interstate. Loki, Waverly, and Thor were left in the parking lot. It had only been a few short hours under this new arrangement and already Loki was hating it. He was back in his ridiculous Midgardian get up; the black jeans and green V-neck. Waverly was in normal clothes as well, but that was nothing new. Loki did take some pleasure in how ridiculous Thor looked in some Midgardian clothes he had borrowed from Steve. The god of thunder was wearing blue jeans, a pale blue button down shirt, and a leather jacket. In Loki's opinion, he looked positively ridiculous.

Clothing aside, Loki felt all too vulnerable without his spear. Sure, he still had all his magic, but he always performed better with his trusty weapon in his hand. To top everything off, Thor would be acting as his babysitter until they arrived back at the tower. This, most off all, infuriated Loki.

The only silver lining to this situation was that Loki's house arrest would take place in Waverly's apartment in Avengers Tower. Loki allowed himself a smile. Confined to the small quarters wouldn't be so bad. He'd be with Waverly. Loki was sure he could find a way to occupy himself with Waverly around. His smile twisted mischievously.

Waverly nudged him, pulling him away from his thoughts. "I said, do you want me to call a taxi or we can catch a bus to the airport." Waverly looked up at Loki. "What the hell are you so smiley about?"

Loki draped an arm around Waverly's shoulders. "I was just imagining all the fun we'll have in your quarters back at the tower."

Waverly smiled but turned beet red. Thor became very interested in his Midgardian tennis shoes. Waverly wiggled her shoulders, knocking Loki's arm off of her. She punched him playfully on the arm.

"We'll see. Taxi then?"

"What is this taxi? A type of horse?" Thor was eager to change the subject. He had no desire to hear about his brothers… activities.

Waverly laughed. "A horse? No." She pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number for a taxi service she had gotten from the hotel's front desk.

* * *

Loki looked green… and it wasn't because of his choice in clothing. Thor didn't look too well either. Smashed between them in the back seat, Waverly just smiled and tried to hold back her laughter. She had had many taxi rides in New York, so this was nothing. She wasn't fazed as the taxi driver took a turn at 40 miles an hour, nearly hopping the curb. Loki and Thor, however, had never been on such a ride. Thor clutched the handle to the car door, his eyes wide. Meanwhile, Loki clutched Waverly with one hand and his seatbelt with the other.

In a thick Southern accent, the taxi driver looked in the rearview mirror at Waverly. "Where to again, ma'am?"

"The airport."

The driver nodded and pressed down on the gas. The taxi barely made it through an intersection before the light turned red. Distraught drivers honked their horns.

"Lady Barton," Thor sounded positively terrified. "Next time, we shall catch that bus you mentioned."

Waverly giggled. "Sure thing. You don't get seat belts on those, though."

Loki closed his eyes and rested his head against the back of the seat. He looked as if he was going to be carsick. Waverly giggled again.

The ride to the airport was nothing for Waverly, but when the taxi stopped, Thor and Loki nearly kissed the ground in relief. Waverly guessed being an Asgardian god didn't prepare you for the horrors of an American taxi ride. Since the two gods were still pretty shaken, Waverly went and bought three plane tickets to New York. First class of course, after all, this was being charged to SHIELD. If Fury was going to make them fly home, the least he could do was spring for first class seats.

They had to wait about an hour before their flight began boarding. The three of them got some strange looks, sitting in the airport lounge, with no luggage. Waverly passed the time by texting Natasha. Thor and Loki, naturally, bickered the entire time.

"I am quite fond of these Midgardian clothes. I feel they suit me quite nicely." Thor was examining his reflection in a window.

"You look ridiculous." Loki said. His elbow was on the table propping up his head, a cold cup of what Waverly called coffee was sitting abandoned in front of him.

A jet flew past the window, having just taken off.

"The strange metal birds," Thor began, "How is it that they can fly without flapping their wings?"

Loki rolled his eyes and heaved an exhausted sign before his head hit the table with a thud. Waverly just giggled again, ignoring the strange looks from those around them. "They aren't birds, Thor."

"Which she had told you for the millionth time." Loki added.

"I just do not understand all this Midgardian… what is it called?"

"Technology, Thor. It is called technology. Honestly, are you that thick?" Loki looked ready to pull his hair out.

Waverly intervened before the brothers attempted to kill each other. "All right you two, our plane is boarding soon. Come on." Waverly stood from the table and shut off her phone before slipping it back in her pocket. She pushed in the plastic chair and began leading the way to gate. Loki was at her side, Thor trailing right behind them.

"Please tell me he is not sitting with us." Loki tugged the tickets out of Waverly's back pocket and searched for the seat numbers.

"It's you and me next to each other. Thor's behind us." Waverly answered.

Loki groaned. "And how long is this flight?"

"Little over an hour."

"Can we sedate him?"

Waverly laughed while Thor protested.

"Brother, it is as if you do not want to be around me!"

Loki handed the tickets back to Waverly as they approached the gate. "I don't want to be around you Thor."

A flight attendant took their tickets, scanned them with some machine, and then directed them into the plane. Loki had never been on a plane before. He had been on a SHIELD jet, but only as a prisoner so his memories of the ordeal weren't all too fond. This, however, Loki had to admit was quite luxurious. The seats were large and spaced out in this area of the plane and were a soft fake leather. Loki settled into his seat, quite comfortable. Another flight attendant was making her way down the main aisle, offering drinks, snacks, and pillows. Despite the large number of irritating mortals on board, it was quite and actually relaxing.

Waverly sat beside Loki and settled in. She buckled her seat belt and then rested her head on Loki's shoulder. "I'm going to take a nap." She yawned. "Wake me when we get there."

Behind him, Loki heard Thor succumbing to the comfort of the seat as well. Glancing back, Loki saw his brother was already beginning to snore and drool slightly. Loki turned back around and put his head on Waverly's. She was already asleep. Loki closed his eyes.

* * *

If the taxi ride was horrible, that was nothing compared to the flight. The plane had hit turbulence, and Loki was sure they were going to drop out of the sky. No one seemed panicked. The plane rocked back and forth, but none of the Midgardians seemed alarmed. Waverly was still asleep next to Loki, her fingers loosely intertwined with his. From the seat behind him, Loki heard Thor grunt in his sleep as the plane gave another jolt. The flight attendants reassured the passengers that this was typical and to remain seated until the plane cleared the turbulence. There really was no need; Loki seemed to be the only one alarmed. However, if these mortals weren't afraid of the rocking of the plane, Loki was determined to not let it frighten him either. He tightened his grip on Waverly's hand and settled back into his seat. Loki closed his eyes.

Loki allowed himself to think of something besides Waverly for the first time in days. He was back with her, they were together. The gnawing hunger he had felt without her was abated. The Other was back into hiding for the time being, so Waverly was safe. The overwhelming urge to make sure she was safe was also at bay. And, the twins were dead. Loki knew he shouldn't be happy about their deaths, they were Waverly's friends after all, but with the twins gone, the jealously Loki had been feeling the last few days had vanished. Of course, Loki would never admit he was jealous, at least not out loud.

So, now what? Loki knew The Other would attack again. Until then, he was content being confined to Waverly's quarters, even if it meant playing one of Fury's little games. Loki had gone too long without her. He missed those nights, sleeping by her side. But what happened once they had defeated The Other? His master would still attack Earth, no doubt. Loki was pretty sure the Avengers would ask for his help in defeating The Other's master; after all, he was quite skilled with magic. But after that… Loki didn't know what would happen. Fury would likely try to capture him. Loki wasn't going to let that happen. Loki needed to find a way to be with Waverly and to escape the wrath of Fury. The god of mischief was back to scheming.


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: Soooooooo... I know its been a long time, but I had finals at school, and then a week long end of the year keystone project, and then once I came back home I just wanted to relax for awhile and not do anything that required the function of my brain, lol. But I have missed writing so here's an update. I know its shorter than most and that's because this is filler before the remaining action packed last two chapters of this story (and yes there will be a third). If you also read my other stories, I'll update those soon too and I'll be starting the ****sequel to my Capt America story. One last thing.. have you all seen the trailer for Thor 2?! OMG! I love Loki's line at the end. And also, Iron Man 3 is awesome, go see it if you haven't. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.**

Chapter Eighteen:

Once the jet cleared the rough patch of turbulence, the remainder of the flight was uneventful. Loki didn't get much scheming done, however, thanks to an irritating mortal child that was crying a few rows ahead of him. He longed to silence the annoying child by any means necessary, but performing magic on the plane would no doubt cause a scene and then Fury would just lock him up upon his arrival at Avengers Tower. So instead, Loki forcibly calmed himself by taking long, even breaths; in through his nose and out through his mouth.

It wasn't long after that when the captain came over the plane's speaker system, announcing that they would be landing in LaGuardia within the next twenty minutes. Pleased that his trip in this infernal, metal bird as Thor called it, was coming to an end, Loki shook Waverly awake. Her head had lolled from his shoulder down to the crook of his elbow and the girl had somehow managed to curl her small frame into her seat.

With a yawn, Waverly gave a cat like stretch and sat up. "Are we in New York?"

Loki nodded. "Soon, at least."

Waverly stretched again and then twisted around in her seat. Loki watched as she leaned across the gap to the row behind them so she could place a hand on Thor's knee. She shook the god of thunder awake. Thor started with a grunt, then opened his eyes, looking blearily from Waverly to Loki.

"Have we arrived?" Thor asked.

"Nearly," Loki said. "Would you wipe the drool off your face? Honestly, you bumbling idiot."

Thor frowned but dragged the back of his hand across his face. "You would do well to speak more kindly, brother."

Loki sighed through his nose. "For the thousandth time, I am not your brother."

"Maybe not by blood. But you know in your heart we are truly brothers."

With an eye roll, Loki turned around in his seat. "Can we end this enthralling discussion before I get the urge to hug you?"

Waverly laughed at Loki's sarcasm. Thor, a disgruntled look on his face, settled back into his seat and turned his attention to the clouds outside his window.

* * *

Upon their arrival, Loki made a snarky remark to one of the T.S.A. agents roaming the airport. This, of course, granted the god to a full pat down, a body cavity search, and an extra pass through the X-ray machine. By the time Loki had been granted leave of the airport, he was thoroughly displeased and had a strong desire to snap some Midgardian necks. Instead, he resumed his deep breathing and made it a point to ignore Thor who was attempting to lecture him on human civilities. Beside the god of mischief, Waverly struggled to hold back her giggles as a vein throbbed on Loki's neck, indicating the magnitude of his irritation.

The odd trio waited near the curb outside the airport, waiting to hail a taxi. Loki was just thrilled. He couldn't _wait_ to be back in one of those Midgardian contraptions. Finally, after nearly getting run down in the process, Waverly caught the attention of a cab driver. The yellow vehicle screeched to a halt in front of them. Thor crammed into the back seat first, followed by Waverly, and finally Loki, who grumbled to himself about the inconvenience of not having his spear.

Once seated and buckled, Waverly leaned forward and addressed the driver. "Avengers Tower, please."

The cab driver looked at the three of them in his rearview mirror and raised an eyebrow. Waverly sighed and slipped her hand into her jeans pocket. She pulled out a crisp one hundred dollar bill. "Yes, I said Avengers Tower, and if you keep quiet about us, I'll pay you with this."

The cab driver's eyes lit up with a greedy gleam. "Yes, ma'am." He then proceeded to make the motion of zipping his lips closed, locking them, and throwing away the key before he pressed down on the gas and sped toward downtown Manhattan.

* * *

As if this was some test, Loki's irritation did not end once they reached the tower. He was forced to wait outside with Waverly while Fury finished enhancing security measures and changing all the security codes. Thor was allowed in, which only annoyed Loki further.

Waverly wasn't too thrilled either. Fury told them that in addition to changing the security codes, Waverly was also removed from the list of people allowed into the inner most sanctum of the tower. Fury's reasoning was that since Loki would be under house arrest in Waverly's quarters, it would be all too easy for him to steal her I.D. badge which would grant him access to nearly the whole building.

"Well, how am I supposed to get into the high clearance areas?" Waverly had argued.

"Your brother will have to take you," was Fury's response.

So now, Waverly was pacing in front of the main entrance to the tower, ranting and raving about how ridiculous all of this was. Agent Hill was stationed nearby as a precaution and her lips were curled up ever so slightly in amusement. Meanwhile, Loki stood with his arms crossed and leaned against the thick steel door. He followed Waverly with his eyes, agreeing that this all was a bit extreme. A sly smile spread across his face. Actually, if he was completely honest with himself, Loki was pleased the mortals didn't trust him. Why should they? Even now, he was still entertaining the idea of ruling over them and making him his slaves. It was prudent of Fury to extend his security measures.

Waverly finally gave up ranting and with a sigh, leaned against the door and dropped her head onto Loki's shoulder. "Ya know," she said, "I get why they don't trust you. But me? I'm part of their team."

Loki wrapped a slender arm around Waverly's waist. "Yes, my dear, but you did kill the king of Asgard in order to save me; a disgraced prince and a highly wanted criminal."

Waverly shook her head. "Like my brother and Natasha haven't done things just as bad."

"Fair point," Loki conceded.

Finally, after another ten minutes, Fury came to the main entrance and allowed Loki and Waverly to come inside. He escorted them to the elevator and then pressed the button for the fourteenth floor; the living quarters for the Avengers and himself.

"I don't need to be babysat," Waverly said to Fury, a cold gleam in her eye.

Fury raised an eye brow. "No, but _he_ does." The director nodded at Loki.

The remainder of the elevator ride was uncomfortable silence.

With a ding, the doors slid open. Fury waved an arm, indicating Waverly was to take the lead, then he jerked his head to send Loki out into the hall. Loki followed Waverly's brisk steps to her apartment, all too conscious of Fury's one-eyed gaze boring into the back of his skull. When they had reached Waverly's living quarters, Loki noticed that two burley men in dark suits were already stationed on either side of the door. They appeared unarmed, but Loki knew that hidden in the many folds of the fabric covering their bodies were numerous weapons, all set to kill him if necessary.

Before Waverly and Loki could enter, Fury addressed them. "Loki, you are not permitted to leave under any circumstances unless escorted by myself, Agent Hill, or Thor. Waverly, come as go as you like, but know that Loki can only join you if you are also accompanied by another agent. And, if you want to enter high security areas, your brother will have to let you in."

Loki could sense Waverly's annoyance. She tensed up beside him and only answered Fury with a quick nod, no doubt not trusting herself to speak. Loki also nodded and said, "As you wish, Director," he couldn't help but lace his words with sarcasm.

Fury narrowed his eye. "Any trouble, one toe out of line, our bargain is over." With that, Fury turned on his heel and strode back to the elevator.


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: Thanks for all the reviews. Readers were requesting fluff so hopefully I've satisfied you haha. I hope you enjoy.**

Chapter Nineteen:

Loki had been in Waverly's quarters in Avengers Tower only once before. The place hadn't changed much since his last visit. The door opened up to the combined living room and kitchenette which Waverly had crammed with a poufy sofa, a table with two chairs, a flat-screen television, and a low mahogany coffee table. Sprawled across the coffee table was the strangest collection of objects Loki had ever seen: an extra pair of Waverly's special boots with pores in the soles, a handgun, a pink purse decorate with sequins that had makeup spilling out of it, and magazines for both spy equipment and women's clothes. In short, the room summed up Waverly perfectly. Further in Waverly's quarters was a small bedroom and bathroom. The bathroom door stood ajar and Loki saw the absence of normal Midgardian bathroom fixtures.

"You've done some remodeling," the god commented.

Waverly shrugged as she shut the door behind them. She turned to slid the chain across its lock (not that it would stop anyone in the building from coming in anyway; this _was_ Avengers Tower after all) and said to Loki, "Using my powers reminded me of you. When I thought you were dead… I guess it made me feel close to you."

Loki's stomach twisted uncomfortably. Mere months ago, he would not have been able to identify this strange emotion wriggling around in his gut, but he had changed since then. Loki was feeling guilty. As Waverly brushed past him, heading towards her couch, the god grabbed her gently by the forearm and pulled her to him.

"Waverly, my dearest," Loki said, running his other hand through Waverly's light brown hair. "I honestly did not intend to upset you so. I didn't think my ruse would have had to last as long as it did."

Waverly gave a half smile and leaned against Loki's chest. Loki could feel her heat beating against his chest, a feeling that reminded him that although she was a mortal and he was a god, they weren't all that different. The thought scared Loki. He had once thought himself far superior to the Midgardians. If he was able to admit they were not so different, what then, justified his wishes to conquer them? Loki mentally shook himself. Now was not the time to dwell on his confused desires for power. Now, with any luck, he would be able to spend some time with Waverly before The Other made his next move. Loki smiled slyly and bent down so his lips brushed against Waverly's ear. "How about we make up for lost time, my dear?"

Blushing, Waverly pushed herself away from Loki. "You men… whether you be from Earth or Asgard, you all have one track minds." Waverly attempted to look angry but failed, a smile creeping across her face.

"Please?" Loki asked, jutting out his lower lip.

Waverly rolled her eyes and laughed. "I guess so… if you can catch me." With that, Waverly released two jets of water from the soles of her feet and used the momentum to backflip over her couch where she would be out of Loki's reach and could run for cover in her bedroom.

Loki would not be beaten so easily. In an instant, Loki vanished, his molecules disappearing into nothingness as he teleported from where he stood near Waverly's front door to behind her couch. At the precise moment Waverly's feet hid the ground, Loki rematerialized behind her. He reached out and grabbed her around the waist.

"No fair." Waverly giggled and attempted to free herself from Loki, but he could tell she wasn't really trying. She squirmed in his grip until she managed to turn around and face him. "I can't teleport. You cheated."

Loki stuck his tongue out, a gesture he had seen Waverly do in similar situations. He wasn't quite sure what it meant, but he assumed it was appropriate. "And I cannot summon blasts of water from my limbs."

Waverly huffed in mock annoyance. "Fine. How about a fair fight? I don't use my powers, you don't use yours."

"All right."

Worming her arms free of Loki's grasp, Waverly placed her hands on his hips. "All righty then. Tickle fight!" Waverly slipped her hands underneath Loki's green t-shirt and wriggled her fingers along the bare skin she had exposed.

Much to his dismay, Loki let out a surprised, high pitched laugh. Immediately, his hands flew up to cover his mouth. His eyes were wide and he felt his cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Waverly released Loki and wrapped her arms around her own stomach as she doubled over with her own laughter.

In retaliation, Loki looped a slender arm around Waverly's waist, lifted her up, and then dropped her over the back of the couch. She was still laughing when she hit the cushions. With a graceful leap, Loki jumped over the back of the couch and landed in a kneeling position over Waverly, one leg on either side of her body.

Panting, Waverly finally regained the ability to speak. "All right, all right, you win." She sighed. "Jeeze, I didn't think a bad ass like you would have such a girly laugh."

Loki leaned forward and pressed his hands against Waverly's shoulders, pinning her to the couch. "To quote my, ahem, _brother,_ you would do well to speak more kindly to me or you shall not speak at all." Loki threatened with a smile.

"Oh yeah?" Waverly challenged. "Make me."

Loki dropped his head so that his lips pressed against Waverly's. At first, she continued with their mock battle and tried to pull away, but as the kiss deepened, her resistance lessened. Kissing Waverly was always a sensory overload for him. He smelled her light, flowery scent; felt the warmth of her skin was over him; tasted her lips against his. Loki felt his heart quicken and his breath catch in his throat. He released her shoulders and instead wrapped his arms around her whilst rolling over on the couch, placing her on top of him. Her weight against him felt good. Waverly's fingers trailed up Loki's chest, neck, and then face before she entangled them in the god's thick hair. Loki would never admit it, but he liked the tug of her fingers at his hair. He finally broke free of her lips, leaving a trail of kisses down the contour of her cheek bone before his lips finally rested at the base of her neck. Before he was finished, Loki gently bit the top of Waverly's shoulder as he pulled away.

"Now," he said, "Tell me you did not enjoy that."

Waverly laughed, still catching her breath. "It was nice." She lowered her face to Loki's and gave him a quick kiss. "But now I'm hungry." With light movements, she sprang off Loki and onto the floor, heading over to the kitchen area. "I want pancakes. Ever had pancakes?"

Loki sat up. Smoothing his hair, he said, "I can't say that I have. If I agree to these cakes of the pan, may we have more fun like this later?"

Spinning around on her heel, Waverly faced him. "We'll see," she said, "If you behave."

Loki's mischievous smile crept into place. "My dear, you know I cannot behave."

* * *

After introducing Loki to the wonderful world of pancakes, Waverly appeased the god's other appetite; though she thoroughly enjoyed herself as well. In the middle of exchanging kisses from behind the couch, where their wrestling match had taken them, there was a knock at Waverly's door. Waverly squirmed her way out of Loki's grasp and headed to the door. As she reached for the doorknob, she heard Loki growl in annoyance. Suppressing a giggle, she opened the door.

Thor was standing on her threshold, a wide grin plastered across his face. Crumbs littered his beard and the front of the shirt he had borrowed from Steve. In his hand was a box of strawberry pop tarts.

"Greetings, Lady Barton," said the god of thunder before his free hand disappeared into the pop tart box. Thor shoved a whole pastry in his mouth before he continued. "I came to see how my brother has settled in."

"I'm fine, Thor." Loki snapped. "You can leave now."

"Do not be so hasty, brother, for I have brought pop tarts!"

Waverly smiled. "Come in, Thor." She stepped aside and allowed Thor to enter before she closed the door. While Thor was getting comfortable on the couch, Loki rolled his eyes and shot Waverly a look. Walking over to him, Waverly whispered, "He's your brother, be nice."

"What shall be my reward for my good behavior?" Loki cocked an eyebrow and flashed his trademark smile.

Waverly's cheeks flushed. "I think you've had enough _rewards_ for today." She stuck her tongue out at him and then joined Thor on the couch. She looked back at Loki, giving him a warning look. The god sighed in compliance, painted a scowl on his face, and came to join them, perching on the edge of the couch arm opposite his brother.

Seeing his brother's displeasure, Thor asked, "What it troubling you, brother? Are you homesick?"

Waverly laughed as Loki face-palmed himself and shook his head.

"For the love of Odin, why on Midgard would you think I am sick of that pathetic cell in the palace?"

Before Thor could answer, Waverly butted in. "You'll have to excuse Loki. He's just grumpy because we… um… what I mean is he was… engaged when you knocked at the door."

A slight shade of pink was visible underneath Thor's beard and Loki face-palmed himself again.

"I do not wish Thor to know the details of my personal relationships," Loki said through clenched teeth.

Now Waverly was blushing. "Yeah, uh, never mind. Forget it." In a slightly high voice, she quickly added, "You said you brought pop tarts?"

"Why yes!" Thor was clearly glad for the subject change, as was Loki for he asked, "What kind of pop tarts?"

"These are the flavor of the Midgardian berries of straw," Thor answered. He pointed to the cartoon strawberry on the front of the box.

"They're called strawberries," Waverly corrected.

"Well, they are delicious." Thor reached in the box and pulled out another pack of the pastries. In one swift movement, he opened the pack and took a bite of the first pop tart. "Food fit for the gods."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Perhaps garbage fit for the gods," he mumbled.

Smiling at their usual brother-brother bickering, Waverly relaxed into the couch. She listened while Thor and Loki argued over the value of pop tarts. She knew Loki and Thor had a complicated past and an even more complicated relationship, but seeing them together, she knew the adoptive brothers cared for each other, no matter how much Loki may deny it. Waverly knew that when she revealed her feelings for Loki, it in turn helped the god to open up to feelings he had not let himself feel since his childhood; kindness, love, happiness. Loki may not admit it, and it may be extremely hard to see, but he had changed over the last six months. He was not the same person who had stolen the Tesseract, killed tons of innocent people, and led an alien army against Earth. Waverly knew there were still immense amounts of hatred, hurt, confusion, and pain festering in Loki's heart, but he was not consumed by these feelings as he once was. Eventually, Loki would have to face Fury and answer for all the crimes he had committed and Waverly knew Loki would have to be punished for his crimes. But, right now, she was happy with how things were. Part of her hoped The Other never attacked them and that she and Loki could remain in this arrangement for as long as possible. But she knew that would never happen. The Other was out there and he was after them.

Waverly shook herself and turned her attention back to Loki and Thor. Loki had just asked Thor if he had brought the pop tarts to share with them.

"Of course!" Thor answered. "This treat is too great to keep for myself. I must share it with you, brother." Thor reached into the box. His face fell as his massive hand wriggled around in the cardboard. Removing his hand, Thor gazed into the box. A sheepish grin spread across his face. "Um, it appears I have eaten the entire box. I must have had more in the elevator than I thought I had. My apologies."

Waverly laughed while Loki groaned. "As I suspected," he muttered.

"Do not despair!" Thor jumped up from the couch. "I shall escort you to the pantry Director Fury has filled for me. It is full of pop tarts! You may choose any kind you like."

Loki held up his hands in objection. "That's quite all right," he began.

"But I insist!"

"Go on, Loki," Waverly added. "Spend some time with your brother. I need to take a shower and change anyway."

Sighing through his nose, Loki caved. "Fine."

While Thor and Loki left the apartment, Waverly headed to her bathroom. She stripped off the clothes she had been wearing since the plane ride then, with a flick of her wrist, summoned water through the buildings plumbing. She stepped into the shower and began to lather up.

While washing, her mind drifted to all the events that had happened to her recently. Being reunited with Tyson and Remmy; finding out they were the criminals who had burned down three cities and killed innocent civilians; discovering that they were working for The Other; the antiserum; Remmy switching sides; Tyson killing Remmy; Tyson killing himself…. It was all too much. Waverly had to steady herself against the shower wall for fear she'd pass out from the sheer magnitude off it all.

To balance out that vast amount of despair, finding out that Loki was still alive filled Waverly with such a sense of happiness, it was as if she was the one who had died and come back to life. Being with Loki again, despite the trying circumstances, made Waverly feel whole. There was a gap in her heart without him.

In that instant, Waverly finally made up her mind. Whatever happened after all of this business with The Other, whatever path Loki chose, Waverly would follow him. She couldn't be without him again.

* * *

Loki had only been in Thor's quarters for half an hour. It had felt far longer than that. Insisting that he take some pop tarts, Loki couldn't leave until he picked out a box, which Thor handed over to him as if it was some great jewel. Loki didn't care about pop tarts; he had pointed randomly at a box that turned out to be something called s'more flavored.

When Loki finally returned to Waverly's apartment, Thor having escorted him back, the sun had begun to dip below the horizon and night began to engulf the tower. Loki noticed that in his absence, the guard over Waverly's apartment had been changed. Presently, Agent Hill was stationed at one side of the door, with an agent Loki did not recognize opposite her. The agents nodded to Thor but cast dark glances in Loki's direction. Loki ignored them, bid his brother farewell, and entered the apartment.

Waverly was curled up on the couch wearing what she called pajamas. On Asgard, they were simply called night-clothes and were usually made of silk. What Waverly was wearing was made of the same light fabric that his t-shirt was made of. It was pink, a color Loki though looked good on her. As Loki shut the door behind him, Waverly nodded towards the bathroom.

"Clint came by. He brought some stuff of Tony's for you to wear."

Loki grimaced. "And why in all of the nine realms would I ever wish to adorn myself with something that had previously covered Stark's body?"

Waverly laughed. "I share the sentiment. They've been washed though. It's the best Clint could do. You and Tony are roughly the same size; nobody else's clothes would have fit you."

Sighing, Loki crossed the living room and entered the bathroom. He shut the door behind him, rid himself of his Midgardian disguise, and stepped into the shower. He could barely work the thing under normal circumstances, but since Waverly had torn out the knobs and faucets, Loki had no idea how he was supposed to bathe himself.

"And how exactly am I supposed to use this thing now that you've defaced it?" Loki called through the door.

He heard Waverly giggle and then a blast of ice cold water shot out of the hole in the wall and drenched him. Spitting water from his mouth, Loki shouted sarcastically, "Thank you dearest, you are ever so kind."

Once he was finished with his shower, Loki pulled on the clothes that had been left for him. His 'pajamas' consisted of red and black, plaid pajama bottoms made of flannel and a crisp white t-shirt. The shirt had a hole cut in the middle of the chest, no doubt to accommodate Stark's chest piece. Loki pocked at the hole before abandoning the t-shirt all together; he slept bare-chested anyway.

Loki finally joined Waverly on the couch. She was wrapped in a fluffy blanket and watching something on the television. As Loki sat down, she gave a monstrous yawn. "Wanna go to bed?" she mumbled, barely getting the words out around the yawn.

"I have just sat down." Loki complained.

Waverly giggled and kicked him playfully in the side. "You can stay here then. I'm going to bed." Waverly draped the blanket across the back of the couch, shut her television off with the remote control, then headed towards the bedroom.

Loki sat on the couch for a few moments before he sighed, stood, and followed Waverly into the bedroom. He slid into the bed beside her, taking up his usual position next to her as if they had never been apart. He lay on his side and draped an arm across Waverly's waist. "Good night." He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek.

"Good night, Loki."

The exhaustion of the past few days finally caught up to both of them, and within minutes they were both asleep.

* * *

It was around three in the morning when Waverly woke up. She stretched and sat up, Loki's arm sliding off of her. The god gave a small start and then woke up with a yawn.

"It is the middle of the night," he mumbled.

"I know," Waverly answered. "But I'm thirsty. Want anything?"

Loki shook his head, rolled over, and closed his eyes again.

Waverly gave another stretch before swinging her legs out of bed and padding out to the kitchen. The darkness of the apartment was interrupted by the light in the refrigerator. Leaning into the fridge, Waverly examined its contents. She had been gone so long, most of the contents were spoiled or out of date. Frowning, Waverly shut the door and headed back into her room.

Loki had already fallen back asleep. Smiling with mischief, Waverly encased her hand in ice and placed in against Loki's bare back. With a yelp, the god jolted up in bed.

Waverly laughed but made the ice disappear from her hand.

"Why is it," Loki grumbled, "that I can never get a good night's sleep when I am with you. I am either woken by Frost Giants or your ridiculous shenanigans."

Waverly laughed again. "You know you love me."

"So you think."

Waverly rolled her eyes. "I'm heading down to the mess hall. There's nothing up here to drink."

"You cannot have water?" Loki asked.

"I could," Waverly answered. "But I want juice. I'll be back in a minute."

"Don't be long." Loki pulled the sheets back up over his chest and settled back down into the bed.

Waverly smiled at the god's request, then turned back around and left her bedroom. Unlocking her door, she slipped out into the hall. The guards positioned on either side of her door stood straighter and reached into the folds of their clothing for their weapons.

"Chill guys," Waverly said. "Just me. I'll be back in a sec." Waverly shut her door and headed down the hallway to the elevator. She pressed the button that would take her to the mess hall and leaned against the elevator wall.

The elevator let out a cheery 'ding' upon its arrival at the appropriate floor. The doors slid open for Waverly and JARVIS' voice announced that the floor before her contained the mess hall as well as several meeting and conference rooms. Waverly followed the familiar path to the kitchen. At the door, she slid her I.D. badge through the key-card slot. The light switched from red to green and with a click, the door unlocked. Waverly pushed it open and headed inside. She wound her way through the maze of tables to the main serving counter. Waverly seated herself on the counter then swung her legs around so she could jump down on the other side. She crossed to the fridge, opened it, and located a carton of orange juice.

After filling a glass, Waverly replaced the carton, retraced her path back over the counter, and headed back to the door. Pulling on the handle, Waverly discovered the door was locked.

_That's weird. I didn't think the doors locked from the inside._

Thinking she may have had a lapse in judgment, Waverly pushed the door instead. It still did not budge. Waverly gazed at the door in confusion.

From behind her, a voice called out, "Well, what have we here."

Waverly straightened up. The glass of orange juice dropped from her hand and shattered on the floor, showering her feet with the orange liquid. Her eyes were wide and her blood ran cold. She recognized that voice. _How?! How did he get in here?_

Slowly, Waverly turned around. Her ears did not deceive her. Sitting on a table top with his boots up on a bench, sat The Other. His face had a look of boredom and one elbow rested on a knee, his head cradled in his hand.

"Good evening, Ice Hawk."

Waverly shivered. She was so taken aback by The Other's presence she couldn't think of anything to do but ask, "How are you here?"

The Other smiled his eerie smile, showing rows of even white teeth. "I can hardly share my secrets with you, now can I?" With the hand not supporting his head, the other pulled a gun from behind his cloak.

Waverly's survival instincts took over. Adrenalin rushed through her veins. She made to jump aside but wasn't quick enough. The Other fired his weapon. Instead of a bullet, a compacted net was ejected from the gun. The net closed around Waverly and she felt a thousand pricks on her skin. Looking more closely, she saw the ropes of the net were embedded with little needles. Suddenly feeling weak, Waverly collapsed under the weight of the net. The Other chuckled and strode arrogantly toward her.

"You have caused far too much trouble," The Other said in a low voice. "Now, I will use your strange hold over Loki and the Avengers to my advantage."

"Wh-what hold?" Waverly stammered. She struggled to come up with a plan to free herself but her mind was swimming and she couldn't focus.

"You will come with me and draw Loki and your pathetic team to my realm, where they will be disadvantaged and I will finally destroy all of you."

Waverly lifted a hand and forced it through the mesh of the net. She aimed her palm at The Other.

The Other let out another chuckle. "You can't be that stupid. The net has been impregnated with hundreds of needles containing the antiserum I developed. Your powers are useless."

The Other reached down and grabbed the ends of the net. He secured them together and then unceremoniously threw Waverly over his shoulder like a sack. She grunted in pain as she thudded against The Other's back. He waved his free hand and Waverly felt the tug of teleportation. She struggled against the net, but knew it was no use. The antiserum was already taking affect. As a last ditch effort, Waverly called out, "Loki!"


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: Last chapter of this story. Thanks for all the reviews/follows/favorites. I hope you like.**

Chapter Twenty:

Loki rolled over and blindly spread his arm across the expanse of bed beside him. When he didn't feel the warmth of Waverly's flesh beside him, he opened his green eyes. Sure enough, the spot beside him was empty. Loki yawned and sat up. He remembered Waverly saying she was going to get a drink. Had he really managed to fall back asleep before she made her way back to her quarters? Loki glanced over at Waverly's clock on her bedside table. He didn't entirely understand the passage of Midgardian time, but he remembered when he had left the number on the clock began with a three. Now, a red four was glaring back at him through the dark. He knew enough to surmise that a good amount of time had passed and that Waverly should have been back by now. Loki felt a twisting feeling in his gut. Something wasn't right.

Sliding Waverly's light pink sheet off of him, Loki got out of bed and padded barefoot into the living room of the apartment. His eyes scanned the dark room. After a moment's surveillance, Loki realized he was the only one in the room. Loki swiveled around to face the door to Waverly's bathroom. It was open revealing that the bathroom was empty. An overwhelming feeling of dread washed over Loki. A cold knot formed in his chest and he found it hard to breath.

"Waverly," Loki called out into the dark. He was surprised that his voice shook ever so slightly. Loki was not one to be afraid, but right now, he was. When no one answered his call, he tried again. "My dearest, this is not funny. Where are you?" Still nothing.

Loki stood rooted to the floor in the middle of the living room. He waited in silence for what felt like forever. Seconds turned into minutes, which then felt like hours. Loki's heartbeat was the only sound. Finally, Loki couldn't contain himself any longer. Something was wrong; he could feel it. Not wasting another second, Loki strode over to the front door and wrenched it open.

Immediately, the two agents stationed outside turned around to face the god. Their girth blocked the doorway and in the blink of an eye, both pulled guns from the inside of their suit jackets.

Loki resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "That won't be necessary. I am not up to anything." He spoke quickly and glanced over the agents' shoulders, trying to see up and down the hallway for any sign of Waverly.

"Back inside, Loki." One of the agents barked.

Agent number two nodded. "Yeah, we're wise to your tricks."

Loki's hands curled into fists and his nails dug into the palms of his hands, but he maintained his composure. "Something is wrong. Waverly has not returned."

The agents exchanged a glance.

"She left some time ago to get something from what you call the mess hall." Loki refrained from mentioning that in his opinion, Midgardians called their dining quarters 'mess halls' because of the barbarous way the humans ate their meals. "She still hasn't come back. I'm going to go find her." Loki took a step forward.

The cold metal of one of the agent's guns pressed against his bare chest. Loki paused in his movement and glared at the mortal holding the offending weapon. "Remove your foul _toy_ from my person before I shove it up –"

The agent pushed Loki a step backward. "That's enough. Get back in there before we get the director down here."

Loki sighed through gritted teeth, making a growling sound. "You insolent morons! I do not have the time for this." Loki reached out and wrestled the gun from the agent's hand and managed to chuck it down the hallway before the second agent grabbed Loki in a head lock and slammed him against the wall.

Not two seconds later, a door further down the hallway banged open. "What the hell is going on?"

Loki wrenched himself from the agent's grasp and turned to see Romanoff storming down the hallway towards them. "You're stupid colleagues thought it wise to stand in my way. I was simply removing them."

"In the way of what, Loki?" Natasha snapped. Her red hair was frazzled and it was an odd sight to see her in a silk nightdress that barely reached her mid-thigh, instead of her usual leather body suit. The assassin crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one foot. She glared at Loki. "It's four o'clock in the damn morning. You know you're under house arrest. What are you trying to pull? Where is Waverly?"

Breathing in through his nose, Loki forced himself to calm down. Romanoff could be irritating, but at least she would understand the situation. "Waverly left to go to the mess hall. She hasn't returned. Quite some time has passed and I…" Loki was about to say he was worried but changed his mind and continued. "Something does not feel right and these buffoons won't let me search for the girl."

Natasha studied Loki for a moment. Loki knew she was trying to discern if he was lying, which was expected, by Loki didn't have the time for this now. "Agent Romanoff, please."

Narrowing her eyes, Natasha kept her gaze on the god of mischief but addressed the agents standing on either side of him. "Has Waverly left her apartment?"

The agent whose gun was still several yards down the hallway nodded. "We saw her leave a while ago. Loki's telling the truth."

"She said she'd be back in a few minutes," the other agent added. Then he glanced down at his watch. "That was nearly an hour ago."

Keeping his voice level, Loki said, "And you didn't think that odd?"

Natasha's gaze finally left Loki and she exchanged a look with the other agents. "You haven't seen Waverly since then."

The agents shook their heads.

Natasha look thoughtful but she still wasn't about to buy into Loki's story so easily. "Loki, if something had happened, a security alarm would have sounded. This place has been quiet all night, that is until you decided to pull your usual shit."

Loki had a distressed look on his face and ran a hand through his hair. His obvious discomfort unsettled Natasha. She hadn't seen Loki like this before, minus the time Clint had brought him back after the warehouse fire. And, if she was completely honest with herself, Loki was right; something didn't feel right. Not only had the tower been quiet that night, it had been a little too quiet. Plus, the agents before her should have been suspicious when Waverly didn't return after a few minutes like she had stated. The longer she stood there looking at Loki and trying to figure out what was going on, the more uneasy she became. Her spy senses where on edge and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up; never a good sign.

"Wait here." Natasha said. She turned on her heel and marched down to her own apartment at the end of the hallway.

Loki watched her go feeling that at last, he had convinced the former Russian that something was amiss. Loki only had to wait for a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity before Natasha returned in her usual jumpsuit with a gun hanging at each hip.

"Come on," she said, gesturing at Loki. Then, with a wave of her hand, she indicated that the other agents remain stationed outside Waverly's apartment. "If you see her, radio me."

Loki followed Agent Romanoff to the elevator where she pressed the button for the floor directly above theirs. The elevator ride was short, but Loki was painfully aware that he was only dressed in Stark's pajama pants which were a good three inches too short for him. He was acutely aware of Natasha looking at him out of the corner of her eye. She pointed towards his collar bone.

"You and Waverly seemed to be having a good time." Natasha's voice was as neutral as ever, but Loki detected a hint of teasing in the assassin's words.

Looking down at the spot Natasha had indicated, he saw that a small round section of skin was slightly darker than the rest. He felt heat rise in his cheeks as he realized the mark was a souvenir of his earlier wrestling/kissing match with Waverly. Before he allowed Natasha to notice his embarrassment, Loki snapped his fingers and the green Midgardian V-neck that had become his typical human disguise appeared on his torso.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open with a whoosh. Joking aside, Natasha led Loki down the hallway before them. She stopped at a door in the center and knocked. Loki stood next to Romanoff. "What are we doing?" he asked.

His answer came in the form of the door before them opening, revealing Clint. The archer clearly had been asleep. His hair was tousled and his eyes were half obscured by drooping lids. The second Clint had opened the door, Natasha let out a snort. She nodded towards Clint. "Nice boxers, Barton," she teased. Loki smirked, glad that he was not the only one to be embarrassed at the words of the Black Widow.

Clint, still half asleep, looked at Natasha then down at himself. He jumped, startled to see he was standing in front of Natasha and Loki in nothing but black boxers with little hearts on them. Flushing a shade to rival that of the hearts', Clint hid himself behind his apartment door and stuck his head out. "What the hell is going on?"

"Get dressed, your sister may be in trouble. Loki will explain."

Clint paused just long enough to glance at Loki with confusion before he retreated back into his apartment. Moments later, he emerged fully clothed, though not in his usual uniform like Natasha.

"Okay, explain." Barton ordered.

While walking back to the elevator, Loki explained the situation; how Waverly had been gone far too long to just be getting a drink. Natasha added than something felt strange to her and explained that the agents stationed outside Waverly's apartments should have noticed Waverly being gone so long and alerted someone.

By the time Clint was up to speed, the elevator had reached the floor of the mess hall and Loki, Natasha, and Clint were all fully awake and alert. Reaching the mess hall doors, Clint pulled out his I.D. badge and swiped it through the card reader. Nothing happened.

So Natasha tried. Again, nothing. Both agents pushed and pulled on the door to no avail. Loki even tried to magic the door open.

"Something isn't right," Natasha said in a quiet voice.

Clint pounded on the door. "Waverly?! Are you in there?" The archer leaned against the door and put his ear to the cool metal.

Loki looked up and down the hallway. His feeling of unease had grown into all out nausea. "We must alert your director. I fear something bad has happened."

Natasha pulled her communicator from a pocket of her jumpsuit and placed it in her ear. Putting a hand to the button, she contacted the agents outside Waverly's quarters. "Any sign of her?"

"Negative."

Natasha then twisted the small dial on the communicator that switched her over to Fury's emergency channel. "Director. We need you on level three. It's urgent."

And then, they waited.

* * *

After Fury had joined Loki and the two Avengers, he was quickly filled in on the situation. Fury himself tried to enter the mess hall, receiving the same result as his agents. But, before the director would investigate further, he turned to glare at Loki.

"Why do I get the feeling this is one of your tricks?"

Loki made a concerted effort to keep his breathing slow and steady so as to calm himself. It wouldn't do any good to lose his temper with the director, not if he wanted to convince him that Waverly was in trouble. And, although he had no direct evidence besides a locked mess hall door, Loki was certain Waverly was in danger.

"What can I say to make you believe me?" Loki asked. He voice was one of restrained calm. "I swear on all the nine realms that this is no ruse. I can feel it in my bones. Something happened to Waverly. Something is amiss."

If it hadn't been for the fact that Natasha felt equally uneasy, Fury wouldn't have relented. The director trusted Natasha and the fact that she was felt something was wrong in addition to Loki told Fury that perhaps there really was something strange going on. The director would have trusted Clint's word, but where his sister was concerned, Barton didn't always think clearly. So, Fury led the three of them to his office. He called in Agent Hill and the agents that had been on guard duty. Once everyone was assembled, the director logged into the tower's security network. He accessed the log of card swipes to see who had been where for the past hour and a half. He confirmed that Waverly's I.D. had been swiped through the mess hall card reader. Then, he switched to security footage of the hallway outside Waverly's quarters. It showed Waverly leaving her room just after three in the morning. She had a quick exchange with the guards. Then nothing of interest happened until Loki's confrontation with the same guards. At now point in between those two events had Waverly returned to her apartment. Finally, Fury accessed the security footage from the mess hall. Starting exactly at 3:00 am, the footage went black.

Fury felt his stomach drop. Someone had tampered with the security system which meant someone who shouldn't be in the building was in the building. Only he, Agent Hill, and Stark had access codes to the security system.

The director's next course of action was to summon Stark to his office. After much complaining on Stark's part and lots of yelling and swearing on Fury's part, Tony agreed to meet them.

While they waited for Tony, Fury and his agents began discussing probable causes for the absence of security footage in the mess hall. Loki, however did not participate in the discussion. He stared at Fury's blank computer screen, thinking. Waverly was in trouble, of that he was certain. But what kind of trouble, he wasn't sure. In the back of his mind, Loki suspected The Other was behind all this but he dare not think about it. If The Other was to blame, surely Waverly was already dead by know. Loki couldn't bear to think about that. His hands began to shake and he felt a cold sweat spring up on the back of his neck. Loki dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands to force himself to remain calm. There was a reasonable explanation for all of this, and he would find it and Waverly. And if whoever did this had hurt Waverly in the process, Loki took comfort in imagining all the ways he could kill the offender.

Finally, Stark had joined them. He strutted into the room, stifling a yawn. "All right, what's the party for?"

Fury turned his computer screen so it faced the genius. "Can you explain this?" Fury quickly replayed the footage of Waverly leaving her apartment and not returning, then he showed the mess hall footage… or rather lack thereof. Finally, he had Loki and Natasha explain the situation.

While he listened, Stark's usual arrogance and cocky attitude vanished. He held a hand to his chin as he took in every word. When Natasha and Loki were finished, Tony strolled over to Fury's desk and studied the camera footage one more time, a thoughtful look twisting his features.

"Well?" Loki asked after a moment silence.

Tony looked up at him. "Someone didn't want us to see what went on in the mess hall. It had to have been an inside job, since there was no security breach."

Clint spoke up. "Yeah, but the only once with access to the security cameras are you, Hill, and the director."

"Then someone broke into our systems."

"You mean hacked our security cameras?" Natasha asked.

Tony snorted. "This isn't the nineties, Romanoff. No one says 'hacked' anymore."

Natasha scowled but said nothing more.

"So the next step would be to determine who has done this," Loki said. "I suggest you lock down the building and interrogate everyone here."

Fury opened his mouth to reply to Loki's solution when suddenly his computer screen went fuzzy. There was a crackle of static and then the screen went blank again, only now it was white. Then a face appeared.

Loki's worst fear was realized. Looking at the screen, he was staring into the merciless eyes of The Other. The Other laughed once then seemed to stare right back at Loki.

"My how dim witted you Asgardians and Midgardians are. It took you far longer than I would have thought to even realize the girl was missing. If I had left you to your own devices, it would have been ages before you realized it was I who kidnapped her. You'll have to excuse my impatience."

The view on the screen widened so that The Other was completely visible. And behind him, unconscious and restrained, was Waverly. She was lying on the floor in her pajamas and there were a thousand tiny puncture wounds across her body.

Before Loki could stop himself, he leapt at the screen. As if The Other could see the god's actions, he laughed. "A tad brash, eh Loki? No matter. I won't play games. Our situation is simple. I have the girl. Loki, you bring her team, the so called _Avengers _to my realm. Once you are all here, I will release her. She will be free to go. But you Loki and the Avengers… we will finally finish this." The screen went fuzzy once more and then winked out with the sound of static.

Loki punched clean through the screen before he could reign in his emotions. Beside him, Clint let loose a string of swears that could rival a sailor. Meanwhile, Natasha, Hill, and the other agents were already deep into a discussion about how to deal with this situation. That left Tony who was already on his custom cell phone, trying to track The Other's signal.

Clint and Loki exchanged a glance.

In the archer's eyes, Loki could see all the feelings that were bubbling beneath the surface of his own skin. Anger, frustration, rage, fear. Loki's fists were clenched and he didn't even notice the trickle off blood along the knuckles that had destroyed Fury's computer screen. The god felt numb all over. His heartbeat was rapid and his breathing shallow. The Other had Waverly. As far as he could tell from the video, she was still alive, but Loki wasn't sure how long that would last.

Worry clawed its way up from the pit of Loki's stomach and clutched at his heart. If something happened to Waverly, Loki didn't know what he would do. He craved her touch, was soothed by her scent, enjoyed the weight of her body beside him when he slept. He couldn't be without her. Not after all they had been through. She had changed him but whatever path his life would take in the future, whether it be one of conquering the realms or… well Loki didn't know what else, but whatever it was, he knew he couldn't see himself doing it without Waverly at his side.

Loki swallowed and a strange sense of calmness overcame him. He wiped his fist on his shirt, clearing it of blood, then locked gazes with the archer once more.

"Shall we?" he asked.

Clint's face was set with determination. "We shall."


End file.
